Eyes Like Pale Thistle
by Aquarius Galuxy
Summary: She crawled beneath his skin and questioned the way he saw life. Perhaps all he'd wanted, really, was a little bit of control. NejiTen. 9 parts.
1. Her Name is Tenten

_New fic, yay! Featuring Teacher!Neji. I don't know how many times this stereotype has been done... but I was talking to Giada Luna about an out-of-control Neji, and this was what happened. ;) This story isn't my best where plot is concerned - just a warning so you don't expect too much lol. :P_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 1: Her Name is Tenten**

 **i.**

It was almost too often that Hyuuga Neji found himself in such a situation.

He was behind his desk, grading papers with no measure of boredom, while a student sat at a smaller desk before him, diligently working her way through her assignment.

He breathed a sigh, and listened to the ticking of the wall clock.

Math wasn't too difficult a subject - the numbers came to him easily, like pieces on a chessboard, and like little digits etched into a calculator in his mind. It wasn't a well-known fact that Hyuuga Neji was far better at the subject than he led others to think, though it wasn't an area he was particularly interested in, either. All he was doing in this school was maintaining a low profile, while keeping an eye on his cousin, another teacher in the school.

Hyuuga Hinata loved to teach - she was in charge of the art department - but she had fallen ill in recent years. (She wasn't a very healthy as a child to begin with.) Thus, under the orders of the Hyuuga family, Neji had found himself a place at the very same school, always at the ready to act should anything befall Hinata.

Cousin aside, he supposed he didn't really mind the teaching job. He had been fresh out of college when the order came; Neji had no choice but to obey. The pay was decent, and the apartment the Hyuuga clan had provided him with (he was Hinata's next-door neighbor) wasn't bad, either.

Neji wasn't aware of his eyes glazing over as he lost himself in thought. His pen slowed over the page of neatly-printed symbols, and he stared blankly at the crinkled papers before him, wondering how different his life would've been had he not been forced into this no-prospects job.

"Neji- _sensei_?"

There was a movement from the student; she was waving at him sheepishly, an embarrassed smile on her face.

He jerked out of his thoughts, sweeping his eyes over the otherwise-empty classroom, before focusing on her. "What is it, Tenten?"

"I... I'm stuck on this question," she said, with a smile that was almost a cringe. "I don't think I understand non-linear ordinary differential equations."

Neji released a quiet sigh. Tenten was severely behind in her math classes (he hoped she wasn't as bad in her other subjects) - the rest of the students had advanced way past this, which was the reason why she was the only one to stay behind and request help today (as had been the case ever since term started).

"Come over - I'll explain it to you." Reluctantly, Neji set his papers aside, and pulled a piece of rough paper forward so he could scribble examples without giving her the answer directly.

With a clatter of her chair, Tenten stepped forward, crossing the two meters to his desk and setting her question sheet politely before him.

"Question fourteen," she told him, pointing with a paint-smudged finger.

Neji took the sheet from her and glanced at the problem. She held out her own answer sheet and showed it to him.

Tenten was, by no means, a neat student. There were scribbles and numbers that were shaded out, and carrots and arrows that directed his attention all over the place. He winced inwardly and drew his exhale out, gathering every shred of his patience.

"Remember how I mentioned the method of substitution in class?" Neji asked. She frowned as she tried to recall; he waited for all of fifteen seconds, then sighed and set his rough paper between them. "We don't often deal with nonlinear differential equations, though this is one of the cases we'll be touching on in this semester."

Quickly, he wrote a sample equation in large, neat strokes with a pencil. Graphite slid smoothly over paper, and he was done in moments.

"You have nice hands," Tenten blurted suddenly.

Surprised, Neji lifted his eyebrows; she blushed.

"Um, sorry, I lost my concentration," the girl explained awkwardly, giving him a pained smile. "I just, um-"

"It's fine," he told her, though Neji shelved her words for later rumination. "Do you remember this equation that I've discussed in class?"

She looked at the penciled algebra as if it read like alien-speak, and Neji shook his head by a fraction.

"It's fine, I'll start over," he told her. "You may want to pull a chair up while I explain this."

Tenten followed his instructions, and Neji turned the sheet of paper sideways, so that they could both read it at the same time, albeit only when they'd twisted their bodies so they were almost at right angles to the desk.

It was a long, laborious ten minutes before the student grasped what he was trying to say, her eyes lighting up. Neji breathed out and leaned back into his seat, watching as she pulled the sheet to herself to absorb that information.

This girl, Tenten, wasn't like the average girl he'd seen in classes over the two years he'd been teaching. Neji had been the target of plenty of adoring female students, many of whom blushed and batted their eyelids at him, and more who deposited love notes on his desk, with all sorts of praise penned into flowery poetry that he didn't bother to read.

He didn't know if she had any family name - her name merely appeared as "Tenten" on his class register, and aside from her staring at him a lot, he hadn't seen her attempting to attract his attention, or the attention of any other boy. Perhaps she had a boyfriend who didn't attend the school.

Neji's gaze drifted over the girl as she pursed her lips and looked at his writing. She was pretty, with dark, almond-shaped eyes and her hair twisted into twin buns on her head. Her cheeks were rosy, her lips were full... and she had a nice figure.

He didn't allow himself to think about her beyond that, though her comment on his hands had him looking at hers. She had a strong bone structure, unlike Hinata's delicate frame, and Neji was sure she wasn't someone he'd have to worry about hurting by accident.

"You're staring, Neji- _sensei_ ," she said in a low tone, almost embarrassed.

Neji jolted out of his thoughts at her words, surprised that he'd been looking so blatantly at her. He gave a light shrug. "I see you hanging around school a lot after classes - do you attend remedial lessons aside from math?"

At that, she blinked, and gave a sheepish smile. "No, I just prefer to do my homework at school," she said, "It's more conducive to study around here."

He raised his eyebrows slightly - there weren't many students like that. Most opted to go home, or attend cram schools to further advance their studies in order to get ahead of their peers. (Cram schools were schools that students attended after classes every day, in order to get more learning in.)

"Does it help more than going to a cram school?" he asked. He didn't know if cram schools were beneficial - he'd had private tutoring, if only because he was already ahead of the students in most of his cohort.

Tenten shrugged, and chewed on her lip. "I can't afford to go to a cram school," she said quietly.

Neji nodded and knew not to probe further. He did, however, feel his attention catch on her moist lower lip, reddened from her biting on it.

It wasn't as if there was an extremely large age difference between them - she was in eleventh grade and seventeen years old, while he was twenty-four.

Relationships between students and teachers were frowned upon, though. And besides, it wasn't as if he was interested in her. Perhaps just her body-

Neji shoved the thought out of his mind. _Maintain professionalism._

"Is that all for today?" he asked, so he wouldn't have to be caught staring at her again.

Tenten bit her lip thoughtfully, still looking at the sheet he'd scribbled on. "I think so. Thank you, _sensei_."

He gave her a polite nod and began to tidy his things. "I'll see you in class tomorrow, then."

* * *

 **ii.**

They met again in an empty classroom, a week later.

It was the same scenario - Neji worked on grading his papers, and Tenten sat at her desk, struggling through a different set of problems.

Sometime through the week, it had struck him that Tenten had more difficulties than she'd let on, though neither of them mentioned it. Neji felt that it wasn't really his place to probe, and the only help Tenten asked for was with regard to her studies.

The mystery surrounding Tenten piqued his curiosity, though. There wasn't enough on the job to occupy his mind, and he found himself wondering about her - what her motivations were, what she did at home, what subjects she enjoyed... and what she tasted like.

It wasn't as if he was deprived of the attentions of women - but something about Tenten drew him in.

And he knew he shouldn't be attracted, because he was her teacher, because he had the clan as his first priority, because he had nothing to offer her. Or anyone else, really.

So Neji watched her from afar, and helped with her questions whenever he could.

* * *

 **iii.**

It was a few weeks later that Tenten asked, after she'd digested his detailed explanation about more calculus equations, "Was teaching your dream job?"

He frowned at her, not having expected the question. "Pardon?"

Tenten gave a mild shrug and studied him. "You know, everyone has dreams, right? Like some people dream of becoming a politician, or a pianist, or a writer. Did you ever dream of being a teacher?"

Caught off-guard, Neji stared at her. The concept wasn't foreign to him, but his family circumstances had prevented him from really dreaming up a destiny for himself.

"No," he said carefully.

"What did you dream of becoming, then?" Tenten asked. She set the piece of paper aside and leaned forward, resting her forearms on his desk. "Are you sorry that you became a teacher?"

The same thoughts had occurred to him, though he hesitated to give her the answer. It wasn't any of her business, after all. "I... didn't have a choice," he finally replied.

Tenten frowned. "Didn't have a choice?" she echoed. "But surely your intelligence would have driven you to be more ambitious."

He arched an eyebrow at that. "My intelligence?"

She looked at him, as if trying to hide a smile. "Yes. You aren't passionate about math like Hinata- _sensei_ is passionate about art. But anyone can tell that you're really smart."

"What's there to be passionate about in math?" Neji argued. He glanced at her paint-smeared fingers. "Are you studying under Hyuuga Hinata as well?"

"Yes, I am." Tenten grinned. "She looks and acts like she wants to be in the classroom. You, however, look like you're just going through the motions."

He stared at her, stunned. It had not occurred to him that someone else could read him, that anyone would even question why he was here. Neji weighed his words.

"I... came here because it was for the greater good," he said eventually.

Tenten cocked her head. "Whose greater good?"

He tightened his lips. "That's none of your business, Tenten."

She aggravated him, he realized. Not directly, nor obviously, though somehow, Tenten's questions crawled beneath his skin, and Neji couldn't explain why she made him feel just a little uneasy, as if she was threatening to undo the way he saw life.

"I see you going home with Hinata- _sensei_ ," she piped up after a while. "Are you two related?"

"She's my cousin," Neji said curtly. It still didn't sit well with him that his life was shaped to support Hinata's, and that he had no choice about it.

"Ah." Tenten nodded. "There are rumors that you and her are married, or that you're secretly seeing each other, or something."

Neji winced in disgust. "What?"

She bobbed her head, as if to try and convince him of the truth. "I'm serious."

"Why would anyone even think that?" he asked, trying to wrap his mind around the remote possibility that he would even be interested in his own cousin.

Tenten shrugged. "The students notice that you spend a lot of time around her. And you arrive at school together, and go home together."

Neji's forehead crinkled. "But we look similar."

She lifted her shoulders again. "Incest is a fetish, you know-"

The furrow on his forehead grew so deep that Tenten drew back a little.

"Well, you see, the two of you look similar - you have the same eyes and pale complexion, so people did wonder if you were related," she hurried to explain. "And incest, in general, is just very popular on the internet."

He slanted a doubtful look at her. "And what do you think of it?"

Tenten studied him; her disinterest was written clearly on her face. "I can't say it appeals to me."

"Do you believe that there's nothing going on between Hinata- _sensei_ and I?" he probed.

"Yeah." She nodded.

Neji couldn't explain why he felt relieved at that, nor why he thought he would feel better with her approval. "It's a waste of your time to be thinking about things like that," he said finally. "You should focus on your studies."

"But I don't like math," Tenten pouted. "I prefer art."

"You'll need all the good scores you can get in order to enter a university of your choice," he pointed out. "And your math grades need to improve - your entrance exams are next year."

Tenten made a face and thought for a moment. "What if you gave me private classes outside school?"

Neji hesitated. "It isn't fitting for us to be seen outside school together - you're aware of that."

He didn't trust himself to have her alone with him in his apartment, either. Too many of his thoughts lately had involved her in his bed. Naked.

"What about at a coffee shop?" she suggested.

Neji gave his head a firm shake. "No. We'll continue these remedial lessons in school."

Tenten looked a little let down, but shrugged and smiled at him. "That's fine too."

He drew a deep breath to clear his mind. "Then I'll see you again in class tomorrow."

She reached out as he made to stand; Tenten paused when he did, moist lips parted. She opened her mouth, but did not say a word.

"What is it?" Neji asked, intrigued.

Tenten moved her lips, and finally said, sheepishly, "Do you have a favorite food?"

He blinked at the question, decided that it was inconsequential whether or not she knew the answer. "Herring soba."

Contrary to what he expected, Tenten's eyebrows rose on her forehead, and she glanced away, a wistful expression creeping onto her pretty face. "That's a coincidence," she said. "My mother liked all kinds of soba."

Neji stared. "'Liked'?"

Thin shoulders lifted, stretching at the white cotton of her blouse. "She's gone, now."

"And your father?" he probed, hoping that she had at least some family left.

Tenten shook her head. "He went first. My mother... she passed away a few years back."

There was a crack in her voice, and Neji hesitated. He had not meant to broach an upsetting topic with her, though his insquisitiveness had compelled him to, and he felt guilty for it.

"I'm sorry," he blurted uneasily. "Forgive me - I didn't mean to pry."

Her smile was thin, like the watery light of dawn. "You didn't know, _sensei_. Don't be sorry."

In an effort to strike a chord with her, he volunteered, "My parents are gone too."

Her deep brown eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped.

Neji shrugged. "They died when I was very young. I was raised by my uncle and his family."

"I'm- I'm sorry," she blurted in turn. "I didn't mean to remind you..."

"It's fine. If you want to talk about that, I'm free anytime," he offered, not quite knowing why, only that he couldn't take his words back once they passed the barrier of his lips.

"I... Okay," Tenten said awkwardly. "That means Hinata- _sensei_ is more like your sister, isn't it?"

He gave her a crooked smile. "I suppose she is."

"I have a brother," she told him, "Or rather, he's my adoptive brother. His name is Lee - I live with him and my foster father."

At that, Neji perked up. "I'm glad you have people to return to at home."

A light laugh escaped her lips. "Well... the entire home is green," she revealed. "When I step out to go to school in the morning, all I see is magenta."

He couldn't help but cringe a little. That sounded like way too much green in a house.

Tenten smiled at his reaction and began to pack her things up. "It's a happy home, at least."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said from the bottom of his heart.

After all, Tenten looked far more beautiful with a smile on her face.

* * *

 _A/N: So... there you have it. another oneshot gone out of hand lol. They keep doing that. :P_

 _As always, thank you for taking the time to leave a review!_


	2. Walking the Line

_Wow, you guys really like the idea of Teacher!Neji, huh? ;) Hope this rises to your expectations lol :P_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 2: Walking the Line**

 **iv.**

The next time he saw her at remedial class, Tenten looked as if she had been crying. Her eyes were red, and she looked listless, distracted. She dragged her feet into the room and slowly sank into the chair at her desk.

"What happened?" he asked out of concern. There hadn't been math class at all today, so he had not had a chance to see her until now.

She lifted haunted eyes to him, and let her gaze drop back down.

"Lee's in the hospital," she croaked.

Neji remembered that Lee was her adoptive brother. His forehead crinkled. He would not have been as upset if Hinata were in the hospital - she'd been there too many times - but Tenten was different, and it was apparent that she very much treasured her brother, blood-related or otherwise. "How is his condition?" he asked.

"He's in the intensive care unit," Tenten mumbled. "Car accident last night."

He blinked. "Why are you even attending this remedial lesson, then?"

She heaved a sigh, a slight rise and fall of her breasts that he vaguely noticed. "I thought about it. I can't do anything to help if I'm standing outside his ward."

"But you aren't going to get any learning done, either," he pointed out. "Your mind is elsewhere."

Her full, pink lips pulled into a pout. "I need to improve," she said half-heartedly, if only to convince herself. "Lee would be happy if I got better grades."

Neji acquiesced. "Let's get started, then."

It became obvious that her concentration was flagging, however. Tenten stared at the question sheets on her desk, and inadvertently, her pen would slow, and her eyes would adopt a faraway look that Neji only knew too well. She would snuffle, snap back to attention, and the cycle would repeat itself again.

His attention drifted back to her after a while; he sighed. "Why don't you come over here, and we'll go through the questions together."

This solution worked far better, because Tenten focused more easily than when she tried solving the math questions by herself.

What Neji did not anticipate, however, was for his own attention to drift, because Tenten, in her despair, was just as gorgeous as she was when filled with joy. It made him yet more curious about her... yet more eager to taste her lips, to press her beneath himself, to help her forget her troubles with pleasure.

He swallowed, and berated himself harshly for even thinking that.

" _Sensei_?" she asked softly, when his focus lapsed. "Am I correct?"

Neji blinked awkwardly and glanced at her lips, before looking at the solution she'd written on the scrap of rough paper. It took him another moment to determine that she'd arrived at the correct solution. "Yes, you are."

A pause stretched between them, and Tenten swallowed, the little sound breaking their silence. She looked less upset now, he noticed. More focused on him.

"I... I might be overstepping my boundaries by asking this..." She trailed off uncertainly, and he looked at her in question, raising his eyebrows to signal that she continue. "Have you... been interested in someone you shouldn't?"

Heartbeats passed, and Neji blinked. "Someone I shouldn't be interested in?" he echoed.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and Neji felt the vestiges of arousal gather in his loins. _That tongue..._

Tenten jerked her head in a nod. "Well... I'm- I think I have feelings for someone I shouldn't."

He watched her carefully, absorbing her every movement. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"

She shook her head, and Neji knew that was when he'd lost one of the main arguments he'd held against himself, that he shouldn't think about her the way he did.

The rough paper between them was suddenly very intriguing. She stared at it and fiddled with a corner, folding and unfolding it. "I want him to do very bad things to me," she whispered.

"Should I be hearing any of this?" he answered, just as quietly.

Tenten gulped; he watched the little movement of her throat, that he wanted so badly to slide his tongue over.

"I... that is, maybe you can decide if you want to hear it," she mumbled, refusing to look at him.

"Does it help if I listen?" he returned, curiosity searing through his veins. He knew the nature of what she held on the tip of her tongue, could almost hear the pounding of her heart, and the sharp intakes of breath through her nose.

She lifted her shoulders jerkily, and the corner of rough paper grew more worn by the second. "I- I suppose."

He nodded for her to continue.

"I- This person I like, I want him to push me against the wall," she whispered, barely audible. Shades of scarlet fanned over her cheeks. "I... I want to kiss him... and I want... to be in bed with him..."

He closed his eyes, and tried to regulate his breathing.

She'd made him stretch his trousers tight, for heaven's sake.

"Tenten," he grit, swallowing. He wet his lips with his tongue. "Why are you telling me this?"

Her eyes flickered up to his, and Neji knew, in that instant, that she meant him, that she wanted get in his pants just as much as he wanted her splayed beneath himself.

She tore her gaze away and fidgeted. "I... I just thought you might want to know."

"There are school rules," he began in a low tone. "I can't-"

"Do you want to?" she asked instead, cutting him off. Her eyes darted over his face, down his chest, and then to the open door.

He stared at her. "We can't, not like this."

"But you're interested," she pressed. Her breathing hitched.

Neji looked away. "As your teacher, I can't answer that question."

"What about you, as a man?" she murmured. "What is your answer?"

He was throbbing between his legs, and he couldn't think straight. Neji squeezed his eyes shut, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tenten, please. Don't make me answer this."

"I can make you answer it?" she asked, her eyes lighting up.

He swore inwardly. "No."

But it was a little too late, because she was standing up, and leaning over, and he could see into the neckline of her blouse, the way her breasts were creamy and full.

Tenten's lips were soft on his, wet, and her fingers traced a line of fire down his chest, straight down, to where he strained against his clothes.

She knew to apply pressure - sweet, delicious pressure - and Neji jerked away, breathing unevenly. But her fingers were still on him, and he glanced at the door, suddenly afraid of being seen here, with her. Tenten withdrew her touch at his look, but she was still too close.

"You want me, Neji- _sensei_ ," she whispered, her breath feathering over his lips. "I-"

"Don't," he gasped, looking from her brown, brown eyes to her lips, and the white bra concealing nipples that he longed to touch. "I can't possibly do this with you."

"Just once, please," she beseeched, drawing away just the slightest bit, and he felt as if he could think again, if only barely. "It will be good. You know it."

"Tenten," Neji grated, pushed his chair back with a rumble, so he was out of her reach.

Her eyes widened; she glanced down, and Neji cringed at how his arousal pressed obviously against the dark weave of his trousers. His cheeks heated - he wasn't supposed to lose control in front of her like this.

He cleared his throat, and rubbed the pads of his fingers into his eyes. "The lesson is over for today, Tenten. Please go home."

"But I-" she began.

"Please, Tenten." He dropped his hand and looked her in the eye, breathing slow and deep. "We're done for today."

She seemed to understand then, and drew away, stepping towards her own desk. "I'm sorry, _sensei_ ," she whispered.

Neji kept his eyes on the edge of his desk. He waited until she collected her things, stopped short before him, and gave a quick, shallow bow.

Tenten was gone in a matter of moments. He leaned his head back against the concrete wall behind him, sighing in frustration. None of this could be good for either of them.

Even if he imagined that she would feel exquisite against him. Her lips on his had already been sin enough.

* * *

 **v.**

In the days that followed, Neji's thoughts grew lewder in intensity, and it was embarrassing to find himself with an erection just as he was about to leave for class. It didn't sit well with him to have such little control over himself, as if he were an adolescent again, though at least he managed well enough when the time came to escort Hinata to wherever she had to go.

The subject of Tenten came up at their dinner table soon after.

"How are your students doing this semester?" he asked obliquely, as he dug into his miso soup and rice.

Hinata glanced at him in surprise, slender eyebrows rising above her own pale eyes. He had never posed that question to her before. "They're progressing well. Why do you ask?"

Neji shrugged. "I believe we share the same student - Tenten."

His cousin nodded slowly.

"Has she been giving you problems?" she asked mildly, curious. "She enjoys my classes very much."

 _If only Hinata knew._ Neji's lips thinned, though a smile quirked at their corners. "She attends remedial lessons for math every week," he explained. "But no, she hasn't been giving me problems."

Hinata tipped her head to a side. "Why bring it up, then, Neji- _niisan_?"

At that, he frowned a little. "Has she... ever discussed her problems with you?"

He was itching to know what made Tenten tick, and he wanted to know what she was like in her other classes, and what she was like at home - everything about her.

His cousin shook her head. "She is mostly cheerful whenever she's in class - she enjoys art a lot."

"I can tell," he interrupted dryly.

"She's been upset recently though," Hinata pointed out. "I asked if she was fine - she didn't provide any explanations."

"Her brother got into an accident," Neji informed her, to Hinata's open-mouthed surprise. "She confided in me while I was giving her remedial lessons."

"She seems to be doing better though," Hinata answered, though her gaze did not leave him.

"She has," he agreed. "She's like me - her parents have passed away, and she has a surrogate family now."

Hinata blinked, pausing in the midst of lifting her teacup to her mouth. "I did not know that."

Neji shrugged. "I asked about her family."

A blanket of silence settled over them. Neji picked at his marinated fish, and Hinata crunched on her preserved vegetables.

"How does she do in art class?" he blurted suddenly, then wished he could take his words back. Focusing all this attention on Tenten was enough for a day.

Hinata smiled. "She does very well. Her specialty is portraits."

"Sketched or painted?" he asked, intrigue getting the better of him. His growing up with Hinata had given him some background in art, and he remembered the way Tenten's fingers looked, smudged with paint.

Neji knew what Hinata's answer would be, even before she said it.

"She likes to paint," his cousin replied with a satisfied smile. "Though she's good with other mediums as well."

He nodded his acknowledgement, wondering what it would look like if Tenten painted him.

"You seem to know a lot about her," Hinata continued when he didn't say a word.

Neji blinked at her, drawn from his thoughts about Tenten. "I see her a lot after school."

"For the remedial lessons," Hinata recalled. She drained her miso soup and set her bowl down, waiting for him to finish with his dinner.

He dipped his chin and fell silent, wondering if Hinata should, at least, know about Tenten's interest in him.

Neji contemplated sharing that information through the rest of his meal. In the end, he decided that he'd keep it under wraps for now. Nothing positive would result from Hinata's possession of that knowledge.

"Thank you for the dinner," he said, when he stood and stacked the various plates and bowls together, bringing them to the kitchen.

"You're welcome over anytime, Neji- _niisan_ ," Hinata replied with a smile. "I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

 **vi.**

It was a little awkward seeing Tenten again during the next remedial class. Neji had not called upon her to answer any questions through the entire week; whenever possible, he had tried to ignore her presence during his classes, and she had thankfully not raised her hand, or approached him at all.

But that only meant that she was lagging further behind the class, when he neglected to check in on her every so often.

He couldn't escape the remedial lesson, though, and stilled when she entered the classroom. His tension showed in the way he stopped moving his pen; he felt her eyes on him, and could not bring himself to meet her gaze.

She bowed, walked to her usual seat and sat down, pulling her assignments out.

When he could no longer bear the silence, when he needed to look at her face even though the memory of it was etched into his mind, Neji cleared his throat and dragged his eyes up, only to find that she had been watching him discreetly the entire time.

He shifted self-consciously. "Good afternoon, Tenten."

She attempted a weak smile at him. "Good afternoon, Neji- _sensei_."

He fumbled around for a topic of discussion, and found one. "How is your brother?"

At that, her expression brightened, and her smile grew stronger. "He's much better now. I'm so glad."

"That's good to hear," he answered with some relief. It would have been bad if she'd remained depressed - bad for him, because he had no idea what he should do in response, and bad for her, because Tenten deserved to have happy things happen to her, not sad ones. "How are you coping with the schoolwork?"

She winced. "Not too well."

He stifled the revulsion he felt towards himself - he was supposed to help his student, not avoid her when she made moves on him. He wasn't supposed to be lusting after her, either. "I'm sorry about the past week," he said uncomfortably. "I should have checked in with you more often."

She cringed and blushed. "I'm sorry about... last week. I thought about it, Neji- _sensei_ \- I shouldn't have acted like that."

He still remembered the texture of her velvety lips on his, and the delectable touch of her fingers. Did this mean that Tenten would stop violating his personal space? Because, at the end of the day, he still wanted her next to him, in his bed, and it was so much easier to think about it when she made the first move.

Neji shrugged, and told her (like he was obliged to as a teacher), "Just don't do that again."

She nodded, and there was silence once more, while she focused on her work, and he on his.

Tenten looked up after some time, biting on her lip. He couldn't help but meet her gaze. "What is it?" he inquired politely.

"I... have no idea how to do any of this," she said with a wince. "I've been lost in the lessons ever since the start of the week."

Neji mirrored her grimace and sighed, sliding more pieces of rough paper out. "Pull a chair up - I'll go through the lessons again."

It was easier to concentrate when he was focused on having her understand every concept. The explanations took longer this time - there was more to cover - and Neji was gulping water down from his water bottle when he was done, leaving Tenten to digest the things he'd just gone through.

She glanced up when he set the bottle down and licked his lips - her eyes were on his mouth - and Neji swallowed as she slowly looked at the rest of his face.

The sexual tension was there, whether he liked it or not.

Tenten smiled at him, and returned to the equations he'd written, tracing charcoal-powdered fingers over the paper. Faint black smudges lingered where she touched.

He stared at her fingers for what seemed like forever - imagined what they would look like on him - and dragged his gaze back to his pile of assignments, all waiting to be graded.

It had not mattered whether he pleasured himself one time a day or five - the urge to taste her did not abate, and he wasn't interested in looking for a replacement to sate himself.

He'd tried it - his attention still returned to her anyway.

With a slow sigh, he concentrated on the neatly-printed equations on his assignments, and vaguely missed seeing the mess that was Tenten's.

"I understand it now," she said after a while, smiling when she set her question sheet in front of her, slowly writing her solutions on her foolscap pad.

His focus drifted back to her; Neji tried to watch her subtly, so she would not notice, and saw the way she stuck the tip of her tongue out between her lips, frowning as she went over numbers and symbols.

 _That tongue..._

She happened to flick her eyes at him after solving a problem triumphantly. Neji quirked a tiny smile at her; she grinned in return.

He still had not looked away when she moved on to the next question; she noticed his stare this time, and glanced at him. Faced down, then back up.

"Will you stop staring at me?" Tenten said, a light blush tinting her cheeks.

Neji pulled his eyes away, looking at her hands instead.

"You used charcoal today," he said, observing her fingertips.

She blinked in surprise and looked at her hands. "Yeah, Hinata- _sensei_ said we were switching to charcoal drawings this week."

"She mentioned that you were good with portraits," Neji recounted, slanting her a casual stare.

Tenten turned pink. "R-really?"

He raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. "Is it true?"

"Y-yes, it is," Tenten stammered, and looked back down at her math questions. Her fingers tightened around her pen, though she did not write anything for a while.

Hazily, Neji wondered if she would draw him if he asked.

He wondered if she would draw him in the nude.

"What is your favorite medium to work with?" he probed instead.

"Um... I like painting with acrylic," she answered hesitantly with a smile. "It dries quick - I don't have the patience to work with oils, and it's easier to use than watercolors."

"There's gouache too," Neji recalled, thinking back on Hinata's various paintings. Gouache was a more vibrant and thicker sort of watercolor - Tenten struck him as a person who liked vivid colors.

She shook her head. "Both watercolors and gouache are too easily ruined with water," she told him. "I like permanence."

"Oils are permanent," he replied. "You never know how long acrylics would last for."

At this point, she grinned at him. "I never thought you knew that much about painting."

Neji found himself smiling back. "I grew up with Hinata- _sensei_. You don't live with someone and not learn a thing or two about the things they like."

Tenten's honey-colored eyes sparkled. "What do you like, then, Neji- _sensei_?"

He blinked. "I like to meditate."

She stared at him, and made a face. "That sounds awfully boring, if you ask me."

Unbidden, his lips curved. "Really?"

Tenten nodded, and toyed with her pen. "I can't imagine sitting still like that. Don't you get bored?"

He lifted his shoulders, thinking about the focus he always gained after clearing his mind of thought. "It helps me concentrate."

A playful smile crawled onto her mouth. He stared, and she asked, "What makes you lose your concentration?"

 _You._

It should probably be a secret that he liked hearing his name on her lips (wanted to hear her moan, wanted to see her eyes half-lidded as she begged him for more).

"I... get distracted sometimes," he allowed. "Things like family matters, and so on."

She looked at him in surprise. "Well, you can always talk to me, you know. I won't judge you or anything."

His chest rumbled in a quiet laugh. He'd never seen the day where a student would offer to listen to his problems.

"Thank you," he said, meaning it. "I'll keep that in mind."

Tenten cocked her head to a side, still evaluating him. "What else distracts you?"

Neji stared at her for what might have been too long; he remembered himself and blinked, turning back to his assignments. "All sorts of things. Return to your work, Tenten - we have a lot to cover if you want to catch up before our next class."

She retreated to her desk; it was silent for a long time after that. He was glad that she had backed off and given him some space. The assignments flowed beneath his scarlet ink like slow-moving water, and Neji found refuge in the mind-numbing equations staring up at him.

He wondered what it would be like, what he would do, if she were to step up again, and kiss him like she did last week.

He wanted her to do that, badly, but he would never admit to it.

The sound of long pencil strokes caught his ears; Tenten was glancing up at him every so often, and when he finally finished the stack of papers like he promised himself he would, Neji looked up. "Is something the matter?"

She blinked at him and smiled, holding up her writing pad.

On the blue-lined paper was a very accurate drawing of himself. Tenten had gone with dark, strong lines for his face, sweeping strokes for his hair, and barely any hint of shade in his eyes.

He blinked - she was very good, like Hinata had said.

"I'm flattered," he said eventually. "You are very skilled with portraits."

Tenten smiled and blushed. "You think so?"

He nodded, glancing at the array of pencils she had on her desk. "Have you practiced much with pencils?"

"A couple of years," she answered shyly. Tenten set the writing pad down, and tore the portrait off, before walking over to his desk and presenting it to him. "I'm sorry that it's not my best work."

He accepted the portrait with murmured thanks, looking at it up close. The writing pad wasn't the best paper she could use for a drawing, though. "I like it. It's a beautiful piece of art."

"Are you saying that just because you're beautiful?" she teased, "I didn't think you were a narcissist, _sensei_."

Neji quirked an eyebrow at her - he wasn't about to find himself without a suitable comeback in a conversation like this. "I didn't make any such remark about my appearance, Tenten. Perhaps you might be the one who finds my appearance appealing?"

Tenten paused at that, her gaze flitting over his face. Her lips fell open, and Neji noted that they were moist-

"Are you going so far as to suggest that I may be attracted to you?" she replied lightly, grinning.

All he needed was a raised eyebrow and a smirk; she blushed, and he pressed on. "I would not dare to assume what you think about me," he answered, "Though I believe I may be available should you need a model to sketch."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

His lips quirked. Neji dipped his chin. "Only in school, however."

Disappointment flickered across her eyes, though Tenten remained beaming. "May I draw you now, then?"

Neji blinked. "We need to finish this remedial class. Maybe another day this week."

Tenten's smile was blinding, so much so that he was sure it was seared into his memory.

* * *

 _A/N: This has similarities to f/2.8, ISO 100 in the whole artist/model thing... but no, we aren't doing nudes this time. ;) At least, there won't really be much of a focus on it._

 _Have been wandering around the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle fandom lately - it's by the creators of Cardcaptor Sakura, using various characters from their various series and it's pretty dark... but I love it. If anything, I could be heading into writing KuroFai next. Just a heads-up. ;)_

 _Thank you, as always, for your interest in the things I write lol. I'm reading all these TRC fics and the writing there makes me think that I really need to write better lol. :P_


	3. Pale Thistle

_It's Friday again.. time sure flies :o_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me. **This fic is rated for a mature audience - read at your own discretion.**_

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 3: Pale Thistle**

 **vii.**

Somehow, Tenten had managed to persuade Hinata to allow her the use of an art classroom after class that same week. Neji pondered upon this as he sat on a high stool by the window while Tenten stood behind her easel, mixing paints on her palette.

"How long will I be sitting here for?" he thought to ask.

She laughed. "Are you only asking me now, Neji- _sensei_ , after you agreed to this?"

He shrugged. "Different artists paint at different speeds. Hinata- _sensei_ sometimes takes a picture and uses that as a reference."

"Well, I prefer having live models," Tenten answered impishly. "Especially when they're... appropriately dressed."

She'd somehow convinced him to sit with his shirt off, and while Neji was fine with how his body looked, he wasn't so sure about having some student walk in on him posing for her.

"This is hardly appropriate," he told her, glancing down at his bare arms and chest.

"Hinata- _sensei_ has promised that we'd be doing a figure study sometime later this year," she countered. "You know, nudes."

"I'm not posing for that," Neji said flatly.

Especially not if anyone could see the effects of his thoughts drifting into the gutter.

"What if you posed for me?" Tenten grinned. "Have you posed nude for Hinata- _sensei_?"

He frowned at her. "No. She has other models for that."

She stared at him for moments, her eyes glazed over, and Neji knew what she was thinking.

"No," he repeated, "I'm not posing nude for you."

"Sure," Tenten said lightly, tracing a pencil lightly over her stretched canvas. "I'll have you know that the light looks beautiful on you, _sensei_."

He understood what she meant, and did not need a mirror to know that the light from the window threw his features into sharp relief. Exercising regularly at a gym certainly bolstered his pride where this was concerned.

They exchanged light conversation while she painted; Neji told Tenten more about what he studied in college (he majored in math and physics), and she chatted about her dream of going to an art school, or majoring in design if that fell through.

Talking with Tenten helped time fly, and he knew a lot more about her than before he sat himself on the stool. (She liked Chinese food and fortune-telling, and at least her adoptive father, Gai, allowed her room to be a neutral shade of pale yellow.)

It was close to sunset by the time Tenten stepped away from her easel. Neji raised an eyebrow; she waved him over.

"I only used a few colors since there weren't any clothes to make things complicated," she said, when he came to stand beside her.

Tenten had painted in stark tones on his body - the highlights on his skin were shades of ivory, and the shadows were much darker, a deeper grey. Neji found his attention settling on his face - she painted him more regal than he thought himself to be, and the only real color on the painting was in his eyes - faint purple with a slight hint of blue.

"I like it," he told her, when she glanced at him. Neji couldn't decide whether he liked the pencil sketch or the acrylic painting better, though she had arguably put more time and effort into the painting.

"I'm glad," she sighed. Tenten began to put her paints away, screwing caps onto tubes of acrylic with white-smudged fingers.

"Who taught you to paint?" Neji asked suddenly, a question that popped into his head from nowhere.

Tenten blinked; she glanced at him with a sad smile. "My mother. She was really good at it."

He tensed - he had not meant to broach the topic of her parents. "I guess it runs in the family."

She thought about his reply for a while, and abruptly flicked her eyes to him. "So if you and Hinata-sensei are _related_ , then does that mean you have some artistic genes in you as well?"

Neji scoffed. Tenten was joking, he knew - the quirk of her lips was mischievous and he wanted so badly to kiss her. He turned away instead, to focus on her painting. "I can't draw."

"Have you tried?" she pressed, stepping up close to him, so close that he could feel the heat of her skin now that there wasn't a desk between them.

He swallowed.

"I'm sure you could draw if you tried." Her words were a whisper, and Neji felt his breath catch when she reached up and brushed warm knuckles over the bare skin of his abdomen. He did not step away.

"I believe that the propensity to draw is an innate talent," he refuted, "One I do not have."

"But have you tried?" Tenten asked again. "You can't tell me you can't draw, if you haven't attempted it."

"I have," he said, thinking about awful scribbles in an elementary school classroom. "They're better off burned or buried."

It was getting dark in the room. They had not turned the lights on; it had been mid-afternoon when Tenten set her supplies up, and the room had been brightly-lit. Now, however, the classroom was awash in the burning orange of sunset - the color of promises - and it was growing increasingly difficult to look into the shadows, where Tenten hid her expressions.

"We should both be leaving," he said, "The security guard will be here soon. You have to go home, and I have to see to Hinata- _sensei_."

"I know," she muttered. Her fingers trailed up, to his nipple, and Neji's breath hitched.

"Tenten," he grit.

She tiptoed, and pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth.

Momentarily stunned, Neji stared at her, his mental processes grinding to a halt. He had not had enough of that brief kiss, nor her touch-

Tenten kissed him again, full on the lips this time, and his pulse turned unsteady.

"You're not walking away," she whispered against his mouth. "Tell me you don't want me, Neji- _sensei_."

He couldn't.

Weeks of dirty thoughts came crashing back down on him, and he stood frozen to that spot, wanting more, wanting to press her to the wall.

Tenten reached between his legs next; her breath caught. There was no hiding the way his interest showed, not at this point, when he was straining against the thin material of his pants.

She stroked him; he closed his eyes, wondering how far he would allow this to go.

Neji didn't doubt that she would be very willing to take him into her - any part of her - and the knowledge made him wet, made him painfully hard.

He moved his jaw. "We really should not-"

"Let me come home with you," she whispered, and kissed him again.

His mind fogged over; Neji gulped, wished she would put more pressure into the slow stroke of her fingers.

There was a knock on the door, and Neji stepped back, as if burnt.

In the next moment, the lights had flickered on.

Hinata poked a head into the room. "Neji- _nii_ , I couldn't find you in the staff room- Oh, Tenten, you're still here?"

Neji grimaced, and took a heartbeat to grab his shirt from the stand next to Tenten's easel, holding it casually in front of himself. He didn't want to think about how dark the room had been, and how close he had been found next to his student. "I was looking at Tenten's portrait," he explained to Hinata.

Hinata's pale eyes roved between them both, curiosity stark on her demure face. "Tenten was painting you?"

He shrugged, stepped towards the door. "I was just telling her that I appreciate her talent."

It was just about as close to the truth as he could get.

"But I don't know if I can trust his judgement," Tenten said lightly behind him. "He can't draw, you know."

Offended, Neji turned back to stare at her. "I have seen various pieces of art, even if I can't draw."

She grinned and wriggled her eyebrows.

Hinata was still looking between them when she reached Tenten's easel. "That's a really beautiful piece of work," she exclaimed softly. "You did Neji- _sensei_ a lot of justice."

Neji raised an elegant brow at his cousin.

"Say... if it isn't too inconvenient, could I have dinner with you and Neji- _sensei_ , Hinata- _sensei_?" Tenten chirped, smiling brightly.

Neji tensed, stared accusingly at Tenten. Was she trying to get him into more trouble yet? No student he knew asked to have dinner with his or her teachers.

Hinata turned to seek his opinion; Neji found that he couldn't do much but shrug, so that the decision was left entirely to his cousin.

"I don't see why not," Hinata said quietly, a gentle smile gracing her features. "What do you think, Neji- _nii_?"

He spared Tenten a quick glance - she looked hopeful - and grudgingly dipped his chin. Having dinner with Tenten, in the presence of Hinata, should be fine, shouldn't it?

"It's decided then," Hinata announced with a smile. "We'll have a guest for dinner tonight!"

* * *

 **viii.**

All things considered, Hinata was far more excited about having Tenten over to dinner than Neji was. She chatted brightly with Tenten on the way home, making sure to check that Tenten's family would be fine with her absence first.

Neji trailed along a few paces behind. He'd made sure to bring some work home with him - what better reason was there to excuse himself than having to grade assignments? - and studied Tenten from the back.

Her hands were clean now - she'd had the presence of mind to wash them before the three of them left school. Neji noticed that her shoes weren't blindingly white, that her school uniform was worn in some places, and that she had very shapely legs.

 _I should stop looking,_ he thought. But he was drawn to the easy smile on her lips as she discussed various art materials with Hinata, the smooth point of her chin, and the curve of her neck that he imagined would be velvety beneath his fingers.

"Right, Neji- _nii_?"

Neji blinked and looked up from where he'd been staring at Tenten's hips, embarrassed to have been caught like that. "I was lost in thought," he told Hinata, "What were you saying?"

Tenten was smirking at him; he steadfastly avoided her gaze.

"I was just telling Tenten that you're not bad at drawing yourself," Hinata said, looking expectantly at him.

Neji cringed. "I'm not good at drawing."

Hinata raised her eyebrows, as if surprised. "But didn't you sketch that waterfall when we went to the countryside?"

He frowned as he recalled that trip - Hinata had needed to rest sometime during the hike, and when Neji scouted the route ahead, he'd found a waterfall. She had requested that he sketch it - it had not even been that great a drawing, just a brief outline of what he remembered of the place.

"See, you draw!" Tenten cajoled, a wide grin plastered on her countenance. "I was certain that he had to be decent at it, since you're so good with sketching yourself, Hinata- _sensei_."

The creases on his forehead grew deeper. Neji glanced between the two women, wondering when it was that the tables had turned on him. "I maintain my claim that I don't draw well."

"Well, draw something, and I'll be the judge of it," Tenten returned smugly.

Hinata smiled. "I would like to see the extent of your abilities myself as well, Neji- _nii_."

What was this, an evaluation of his non-existent drawing skills?

Neji glowered at them both. "No."

"I'll do anything if you agree to draw," Tenten said sweetly, clasping her hands behind her back.

Hinata smiled right along with her. "And I would not need you to accompany me anywhere for four entire weekends."

Neji pressed his lips together. It almost sounded too sweet a deal, if it weren't for the fact that he was very much reluctant to sit for any period of time and draw. It wasn't something he was interested in doing.

But not being bound to Hinata for four weekends was freedom that he wanted, and the more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him.

"Six weekends," he bargained.

"Five," Hinata parried, her eyes lighting up. "You don't have to spend them all consecutively."

"Five it is," Neji allowed. "We'll iron the details out later."

"What about me, Neji- _sensei_?" Tenten piped up. "Are you going to to bargain with me too?"

He spared her a glance - one that probably told too much as it was - and looked away. He could not sleep with her. It went against his principles. "No."

"That's mean, when you don't know what I have to offer," Tenten pouted, turning around and walking backwards, so she was facing him.

The sullen stare he sent her definitely said, _You know what I want, and I'm not asking for it._

"I don't need anything from you, Tenten," he said firmly. (Yes, yes he did.)

"How about I sketch something for you, a drawing of your choice?" she offered, still grinning.

He was swayed. "Perhaps."

That was all the answer she needed; Tenten bounced on the balls of her feet, and turned to walk facing forwards again-

Except she stumbled on a stone that Hinata was trying to warn her about, and Neji crossed the distance between them in two strides while she flailed.

She whacked him in the face; his arm circled around her waist, and he pulled her against himself.

Tenten was soft and warm, and she felt very, very good against his chest.

He let go of her the moment she regained her balance. She smiled sheepishly at him and apologized profusely; he shrugged and glanced away, jaw stinging. "Watch where you're going."

Hinata had that curious, discerning look about her again, though she said nothing of her observations. Neji didn't want to know what it was that she'd seen.

"I'll be careful," Tenten promised. "Thank you, Neji- _sensei_."

The rest of the journey home was uneventful, and Neji retreated to his apartment while Hinata cooked for the three of them. Try as he might, he couldn't get his thoughts to remain fixed on the assignments he'd brought home. The knowledge that Tenten was so close to his home sent his imagination reeling. When she'd offered him anything he wanted...

He wasn't interested in love - didn't think anyone would love him, servant that he was. All he wanted was sex, something primal, something that would get Tenten out of his mind, for once and all.

He ended up coaxing a climax out of himself, if so his refractory period would coincide with dinnertime.

Neji knocked on Hinata's apartment door at the usual time - when they returned late, she typically took forty minutes or so to get dinner ready.

It was Tenten who answered the door. Neji blinked at her. He had never seen Tenten in a home setting, and it was even stranger to have her let him in to Hinata's place for a meal.

"Tenten helped with dinner," Hinata revealed, when they sat down at the wooden dining table, steaming bowls of rice in front of them. "We're having herring for dinner today."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "What's the special occasion?"

Hinata's smile was placid. "It was Tenten's idea. She said that this was a special occasion."

He looked suspiciously towards the girl; she blinked and grinned at him, her expression revealing nothing. "Right."

Tenten picked her chopsticks up. " _Itadakimasu!_ "

Neji and Hinata echoed the customary phrase and tucked in.

"Why herring?" Neji eventually asked, after Tenten was done telling Hinata how much she liked the food. "If Tenten is our guest, shouldn't we be having some Chinese food instead?"

Tenten beamed at him. "Hinata- _sensei_ said she wasn't familiar with preparing Chinese food, so I said we could go with your favorite dish."

"We're out of soba," Hinata added apologetically. "But I find it curious that you know each other's favorite foods."

At that, Neji glanced at Tenten; she grinned and explained, "I asked Neji- _sensei_ about his favorite food during remedial class. What's yours, Hinata- _sensei_?"

"Cinnamon rolls and _zenzai_ ," his cousin responded, looking towards the kitchen. "I have some _zenzai_ in the fridge, if you'd like some dessert later."

Tenten brightened up. It figured that she would like red bean soup - most women liked sweet things, after all.

The rest of dinner passed uneventfully; Neji did not pose questions to Tenten, though she and Hinata got along very well. It wasn't that much of a surprise, Neji mused, when they spent a great deal of time in class together, and Hinata obviously appreciated her student's artistic talents.

All the same, he found that he liked listening to what Tenten had to say. She treated Hinata with respect, and was curious about the things her teacher talked about. With his mind relatively clear, Neji appreciated her intelligence, how she asked thoughtful questions and didn't try to shove her opinions down anyone's throat.

He wanted to spend a lot more time with her, he realized, both inside the classroom and out.

Hinata drew him aside when they were done with dinner, and he brought the various dishes into the kitchen, setting them in the stainless steel sink.

"A-About Tenten," she whispered.

He lifted his brow, waiting for her to continue.

Hinata flushed. "W-well, I- I just thought you might like a reminder that she-"

"That she's a student?" Neji sighed and rubbed his temples. "Don't you think I know that?"

"She's interested in you," his cousin continued in a low tone, even as she pulled clean bowls from a cabinet, and retrieved the container of _zenzai_ from her fridge.

He heaved a deeper sigh. "What do you suggest I do about it?"

At that, Hinata frowned and pursed her lips. "I don't know."

"What would you do, if it happened to you?" he asked.

She parted her lips to answer, then paused. Long moments later, Hinata yielded, "I'd like to see you happy, Neji- _nii_."

"Do you think she'll make me happy?" he queried next, while she ladled thick, opaque soup into the bowls.

She hesitated in the middle of ladling. "Tenten is young."

"She might not know what she's doing," he agreed. "But knowing death so early in life - it makes a person grow up."

There was a stretch of silence while Hinata replaced the lid on the _zenzai_ container, and stored the remainder in the fridge.

"I don't have any advice," she finally said, "Just be careful."

"I'm trying my best to be," he replied, following her out of the kitchen with a sigh.

Tenten watched them with bright eyes as they returned to their seats. Hinata set the bowls in front of them; Tenten took an eager mouthful with her soup spoon.

All of Neji's plans to keep his mind out of the gutter evaporated when Tenten licked the inside of her spoon, dragging her tongue along its inner surfaces.

"This is delicious!" she chirped.

He brought his gaze sharply down, anchoring it to his own bowl of soup. Already, he could imagine that tongue of hers - he wanted it on him-

Neji shook himself out of his thoughts, and spooned thick, sweet soup into his mouth, chewing slowly on the braised beans. It was a change from the savory heat of dinner, though it did little to cool his system down, especially when a foot found his shin, and slid up to his knee.

He swallowed; Tenten was chewing, but he saw the slow smile that crept up her lips. Neji glanced next at Hinata - she dipped her spoon into her dessert, blissfully unaware of what Tenten was doing to him. Blood flowed out of his head, and Neji could barely think.

"I should retire early," he said, finishing up the rest of his soup. "There are assignments I have to grade."

"So early?" Tenten asked, innocent. Her foot fell away from his thigh, where her toes had been trailing. "You're no fun, Neji- _sensei_."

He shrugged, took his bowl to the kitchen, running it under the tap. Tenten was still calmly sitting with Hinata when he returned and headed towards the apartment door. "Thanks for the dinner, Hinata."

Hinata smiled up at him. "You're welcome, Neji- _nii_. I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded at her and Tenten. "Goodnight, Hinata, Tenten. I'll see you tomorrow."

Tenten's eyes were on his hips, and she was smiling archly at him. "Goodnight, Neji- _sensei_. I'll help Hinata- _sensei_ with the dishes."

Neji swallowed hard. She knew the effect she had on him, had triggered it on purpose.

It didn't feel like he was home soon enough, when he shrugged out of his clothes and stepped into the bathroom. His erection stood and stared defiantly at him; he scowled back, wishing he had more control over his body-

Wishing he had Tenten beneath him, because she really was the cause of all his recent troubles.

He hadn't decided if he wanted to be done with his arousal yet, all through the shower, and as he stepped out, toweling his hair dry, there came a soft knock on his door.

Neji swore. He had a very good idea who it was at his doorstep, and it didn't help his desire any.

Quickly, he wrapped his towel around his waist - two layers had very successfully held his swollen length down - and crossed the distance to the door, looking through the peephole.

He cursed again. Standing before him was Tenten, the most innocent expression on her face while she eased the buttons on her school blouse open - she was wearing a sheer black bra today, and he could see the distinct dark circles of her nipples.

Neji was throbbing as he shoved a hand into his hair and unlocked the door, throwing it open.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

Tenten froze and stared at him, brown eyes raking over his chest.

He heaved a sigh and stepped aside, acutely aware of how compromising this would look to anyone happening by.

"Get in," he muttered, closing the door and locking it the moment she cleared the doorway.

Once that was done, he whirled upon her, trying his best to muster some semblance of anger.

But he couldn't, because her fingers had fallen away from her open shirt, and she was staring blatantly at him, undressing forgotten.

"I- Hinata- _sensei_ mentioned that you live next to her," she blurted, looking pointedly down at his hips.

Neji was very glad that the layers of his towel were wound tight enough that she couldn't fathom the state of his arousal.

"You had to come knocking on my door?" he muttered. Even though the apartment walls were relatively soundproof, he didn't want to risk having his cousin know about this situation. "Does Hinata- _sensei_ know you're here?"

Tenten shook her head. "I told her I was going home."

Neji drew a calming breath and rubbed his temple, for lack of something to do with his hands. "Please tell me you're going home."

She swallowed, licked her lips. "Well, I thought I'd say goodnight to you first-"

"With your shirt unbuttoned?" he growled, trying (and failing) not to look at the dark crests of her pebbled nipples.

Tenten blushed, but met his gaze. "I- I need to know, _sensei_. I-"

"I'm your teacher!" he grit, even as he thought about pressing her to the wall, and holding her hand to where he ached. "I can't agree to sleeping with you, Tenten."

"As much as you want to," she supplied quietly. "We can use a condom-"

"This isn't about whether you get pregnant," Neji cut in, turning away. "Go home, Tenten. Get dressed, and go home."

She stepped in close and wound her arms around his waist. He stiffened; felt the lace of her bra against his back, and the softness of her breasts. "I won't tell anyone," she promised. "Please."

Any more, and he would lose control over himself, Neji knew. Tenten was very willing, she was of age, and he wanted to fuck her until she screamed.

"Do you know what you're doing?" he muttered, hissing when she slipped a hand down, flattening it against the towel, where he was straining against.

She moaned softly behind him, and Neji drew another breath, trying to hold on to all the reasons why he shouldn't be pressing into her silky depths-

"I want you to fuck me in the worst ways possible, Neji- _sensei_ ," she whispered, reaching for the corner of his towel, where he'd secured the damn thing. "I want to be spread open under you, I want you to invade me, I want-"

He plucked her arms off himself and whirled around, arousal thumping so thick in his veins that he could barely think. "This is your last chance, Tenten. Get out now before we both do something we'll regret."

"I won't regret it," she whispered, her moist, red lips parted.

Neji swallowed; she reached up and tugged at his towel, so it unwound and fell to the floor in a heavy rustle. He heard the uneven breath she drew when his flesh bounced up, free of its confines.

Tenten reached up to touch him; he was backing her into the wall in the next moment, pressing his lips over hers.

She tasted mild, of green tea from dinner, though there was an underlying sweetness and the nutty note of red beans. Tenten welcomed him into her mouth, sliding her tongue against his in a way that drove any remnants of logic out of his mind. Her fingers danced and stroked over his bare flesh, smearing moisture over his skin; he thrust at her, needing more, needing to feel himself inside her.

He didn't bother with pulling her clothes off; they were too cumbersome, and it was so much easier just to reach into her bra, to scoop her soft, soft breasts out so he could bend down to taste them, to suckle on her nipples until they could harden no more. She wound her fingers into his hair, a quiet whimper slipping from her mouth.

Neji swept the crotch of her panties aside with his other hand, found the center of her slick heat, and he was pushing fingers into her, groaning at how wet and tight she was.

He broke the kiss and flipped her around, so her back was to him. Tenten lifted her ass; it was the perfect angle to take her at. He pressed wet fingers back into her, caressing her delicate folds roughly, and rubbed the stiff nub that sent her arching backwards, a soft cry bursting from her lips.

"I want you lying on my desk," he leaned in and muttered in her ear, even as he slid slow fingers in and out of her. "With your skirt lifted. No panties. I want you wet and ready for me as I sit and bury my face between your thighs."

Tenten trembled hard, tightening around his digits. With his other hand, he fondled her breasts roughly, tweaking her stiff nipples between his fingertips.

"I want you to come around my fingers," he admitted, "And I want to push my tongue deep into you. I want to taste you as you climax, over and over, with everyone watching."

She groaned and shivered, and he felt her grow wetter, so much so that moisture was dripping off his knuckles, and the lewd sounds that he made as he pushed into her grew louder yet.

When he could no longer bear it, Neji pushed her soaked panties down, and gripped himself, sheathing his flesh within her. She felt like heaven; he groaned, couldn't think, could only feel how slippery and snug she was around him.

Her moan was high and breathy, and he slid all the way in, so her pitch grew higher yet.

"Neji- _sensei_ ," she gasped.

"What is it?" he whispered in her ear, withdrawing by inches, and pushing back in.

Tenten groaned; her fingers clawed uselessly at the wall.

"You feel so good around me," he continued. "I want you bent over my desk as I push into you, fill you completely."

A shudder rippled through her body, she groaned.

It seemed almost counter-intuitive to do so, but Neji slid out of her after a few more blissful thrusts, pulling lightly on her hips. She was every bit as delicious as he'd imagined, and then some.

"Kneel in front of me," he said.

She didn't need any further instruction; Neji felt his eyes roll back the moment she closed her mouth around him. Pleasure throbbed in his body - he thrust at her, and she moaned.

"What do I taste like?" he whispered raggedly.

Red stained her cheeks. She glanced up at him, caressing him with one hand, and stroking soft fingers over his sac with the other. Tenten pulled away; her hot breath fell on his skin. "You taste like me," she told him.

"You know what you taste like." Neji wasn't surprised, didn't think a girl who knew her way around his body wouldn't know how she, herself, tasted. But the knowledge roused his hunger further yet, and he pushed into her mouth while her tongue flicked over him; he grunted.

When it felt as if he was about to burst, he pulled away from her and led her to his bed, instructing her to lie back.

She spread her thighs, parted her flesh with her fingers, and he couldn't stop himself from bearing down on her, from slamming into her.

"You distract me," he whispered savagely into her ear, even as she arched and writhed beneath him, soft whimpers escaping her lips. "All I can think about is you."

Tenten didn't reply - couldn't reply - her chest was heaving, and Neji yanked himself out of her when he could no longer contain the pressure in his loins.

He exploded over her, shoved fingers back into her to see her pleasure reach its peak. Moments later, Tenten arched and cried out, screwing her eyes shut as she clenched around him, fingers and toes digging into his bed.

It was a long while later that he pulled away, rolling onto his back to regain his breath.

"We shouldn't have done that," he muttered, slinging his forearm over his eyes.

Next to him, Tenten drew deep breaths to steady her breathing. She sagged into the mattress, spent. Neji watched from the corner of his eye as she grabbed a tissue from his bedside table and wiped herself off with it. "I don't regret it."

He paused. "I can't say I do, either."

She turned over to face him moments later, and he watched the way her breasts swayed with her movement. "I would do that in school."

Neji stared at her, eyes wide. "You wouldn't."

Tenten grinned. "But you want to."

He didn't answer that. "If we get caught, I would lose my job, and you'd be expelled."

"But you could just transfer to another school," she reasoned.

"I can't." He inhaled, and released his breath. "I need to remain in this school to watch over Hinata- _sensei_. I can't disobey my clan."

Tenten frowned at that. "Why do you have to follow what your clan says?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows. "Can't you just say no?"

He sighed again and rubbed his eyes. "You don't belong to a clan - you don't understand, Tenten."

"Maybe I understand better than you," she retorted, leaning up to press a kiss to the corner of his lips. "You're bound to what someone else says, but you're your own person, you can do anything you want."

"It's not that simple," he returned. "I have nowhere else to go, and the Hyuuga clan has a great reach. They can destroy my life if they so wish."

There was a stretch of silence as that sank in. Tenten considered his words, pursed her lips. "I didn't know that."

"Now you do," he told her. "Just doing this with you is bad enough."

She sighed, and lay down next to him, sharing his pillow.

"I love you, you know," she said quietly.

Neji blinked, turned to look at her. "What?"

She repeated her words; he frowned. "You don't believe me?" she asked.

He blinked again and shrugged. "I can't say I do. I don't know what love is, or how you can fall in love so easily."

Tenten scrunched her lips up. "I don't know how to explain it. I just know that I want to be with you, a lot. I would do anything for you."

He stared at her. It was a strange feeling, having someone declare her love for him. Others had done so in the past, but he'd brushed them aside. "Isn't that a crush?"

She shook her head. "It feels different this time."

Neji drew a breath, held it, and then blew it out. "I don't have an answer for you."

Tenten cracked a smile. "That's fine. As long as you're not chasing me away, I'm fine."

He smiled back at her. "I'm okay with that."

She climbed on top of him suddenly, straddled his hips, and kissed him again.

"You don't know how beautiful you are," Tenten murmured against his lips. Her eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. "Just by looking at you, I feel as if I'm in the presence of an angel."

Neji didn't know what to say to that.

"Your lips are thin, so thin I could believe you might be cruel," she whispered, pulling away to touch her fingertips to his mouth. "And your eyes are like pale thistle."

"Pale thistle?" he repeated.

"It's a Copic color," Tenten explained. "Faint lilac, like your eyes. You have beautiful eyes. No one else has them."

He shrugged, but kissed her anyway. "It's a dominant gene found only in the Hyuuga clan."

"I like your eyes," she told him, and pressed her lips to his.

Neji wrapped his arms around her back, enjoying the way her breasts brushed over his chest. It wasn't often that he got to do something for himself, that he got to keep a secret like this, that he got to enjoy a little bit of happiness.

Tenten made him happy, he realized. It was something he could live with.

* * *

 _A/N: Yes, Pale Thistle is a copic color - Copic is a brand of alcohol-based markers with tips like paint brushes. ;)_

 _Amazed to see so many of you enjoying the teacher!Neji fic :P Thank you, as always, for taking the time to review!_


	4. Drawing

_Been hiding away and reading KuroFai fics lately. I have a KuroFai tumblr as well now (invisible-as-i-run) and have been dabbling in KuroFai fic a little. Other than that, struggling with motivation issues, haven't been writing NejiTen in a week or three, except for the angel/demon fic.. which is pretty bad. I'll try to get out of the rut._

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 4: Drawing**

 **ix.**

On the surface, nothing had changed when they saw each other during the next remedial lesson.

Tenten eased into her seat like she usually did, and Neji continued to grade his assignments, paying her barely any attention. He was conscious of her, though - he didn't crave her like he did before, but he was aware of her movements, of the rustle of paper when she set her question sheets on her desk, of the coarse rasp of her pencil case zipper.

It was quiet for a few minutes while she started on her equations. Neji pushed his awareness of her to the furthest corner of his mind and looked through the neatly-printed symbols on blue-lined paper, written with such ease that Tenten never seemed to possess.

"I can't do this!" she exclaimed after a while, leaning into her seat and tipping her chair onto its two back legs. "Neji- _sensei_ , help me."

He glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow at her forwardness.

Tenten flashed a winsome smile at him. "Please?"

Through the week, she had displayed a streak of boldness in his classes that he'd never seen from her before. It surfaced in the form of questions and mischievous smiles, though she had had the presence of mind to only speak of things he'd discussed in his lessons.

The rest of the students had already understood what she was asking, though, so he kept her back after lessons, to briefly explain the concepts he'd covered.

It wasn't bad, and she didn't touch him at all, though there was something about the way she looked at him that was different, ever since that night at his apartment.

"Fine," he answered, drawing a sheet of rough paper out like he usually did. "What do you need help with?"

With a grin, she pulled her chair over and settled in her seat, pointing out the question she wanted him to explain.

Her fingers were dark with charcoal again today, he vaguely noted.

Tenten did not return to her desk when he was done explaining the questions; instead, she stayed at his desk and worked her way through the next problem, forehead furrowed in concentration.

It wasn't distracting, now that he knew so much more about her, so he let her be and continued to grade his assignments. Neji estimated that twenty minutes had passed before she next spoke again.

"Say, Neji- _sensei_?" Tenten smiled and propped her chin on her palm, leaning forward slightly. "Did you mean what you said that... other day?"

He frowned. "Which day?"

Tenten dropped her tone. "Dinner." And in a whisper, "You said I distract you."

It took him a while to recall when exactly he'd mentioned that. (When she was beneath him on his bed, when his tongue slipped and he told her things that were better left unsaid.)

Heat crept up his cheeks. "What about it?"

Her lips curved in that mischievous smile again - she clearly remembered that exact instance, and Neji was glad that she wasn't obvious about whatever was between them.

"You haven't been getting distracted lately," she pointed out. "Even when I'm sitting at your desk."

He shrugged. "I gained better control over my thoughts."

Her dark eyebrows crawled up her forehead. "Really?" she smiled, "Or have you found someone else you're interested in, _sensei_?"

Neji stared at her. "What?"

Tenten held a cupped hand to her mouth, so her whisper could only reach him. "You haven't stared at me like you want to devour me."

He frowned. Was he that easily read? "Isn't that a good thing?"

She rolled her shoulders and shifted in her seat. "I'm just curious about whether you've moved on to the next girl."

Neji blinked in surprise - he had not begun to fathom that his sated desire would trigger such a reaction from her. It was a lot easier to think about Tenten in the past week, now that he knew what she felt like, and he wasn't haunted by countless possibilities and the enigma around her.

That didn't mean he'd stopped fantasizing about her, though.

"No," he admitted.

"You've been thinking about me?" she asked, delight edging her tone.

"Is this relevant to our remedial lesson?" he returned, glancing back down at his papers, red pen in hand. "Last I recall, we were here to help you with your studies."

A slow grin curved her lips. "I've been studying you," she whispered. "You avoid answering things when they hit too close to home."

Neji looked sharply up at her. She'd seen through him, and he was a little unnerved by it. "This is a remedial lesson for math, Tenten."

She smiled, very smugly, and returned to her question sheet.

Through the rest of the lesson, Tenten said nothing more about what happened between them; neither did she attempt to probe his mind. Neji took refuge in the hard facts of his discipline, patiently explaining concepts that Tenten still did not understand.

He had reason to think he was safe for the day when he began packing his things up, and Tenten shoved her stationery into her bag.

"So, Neji- _sensei_ ," she began softly, heading towards him.

Neji froze; there was no way to make a quick exit, though he wasn't sure if he even wanted to. The lesson was over - he was free to think about whatever he desired. Including Tenten.

She paused by the side of his desk, so that little separated them if he really wanted to cross the one step to touch her.

"What is it?" he muttered, slowly dragging his eyes up to meet hers.

The smile on her lips was sweet, and he thought briefly of kissing her, of tasting her again. "You have been thinking about me, haven't you?"

He skirted her gaze. "We shouldn't be discussing matters like that, Tenten."

She leaned in and reached over, to trace her fingertips over his lips.

Neji stilled. Her touch was light and tempting, and damn if he didn't want to feel more of her, all over again.

A soft chuckle fell from her mouth. "Deny it, _sensei_ ," she whispered. "You've been thinking about me."

He looked away, towards the wall clock, to ascertain that he still had some time before he was to walk Hinata home.

Tenten stepped closer when he didn't answer; she reached up, caressing his chest first, before dragging her hand south.

Neji backed away while he still had control over his faculties. "Not here," he said tightly, glancing towards the open door.

Her smile grew wider. "I was just checking."

The tension in the air diminished when she retreated, and Neji released the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. "What do you want?"

She moved closer, so she was next to the long edge of his desk, and eased herself up, sitting with her legs parted just wide enough to expose creamy inner thigh beneath her skirt.

Neji slid his eyes shut, inhaled.

"I asked Hinata- _sensei_ if I could borrow her art classroom tomorrow again," Tenten said cheerfully. "We'd like to have you around, if that's okay."

"What for?" he asked, when he'd managed to shove his memories of her pale, smooth thighs out of his mind.

"Some drawing," she replied, vague in her answer. "And then dinner."

He did not miss the significant look Tenten sent him, could already see her at his doorstep, on his bed, naked beneath him.

"I thought you might like it," she added knowingly, glancing towards his hips.

"You could look elsewhere," he muttered, knowing that his body had already given him away.

"You like my interest," she replied lightly. "I learn quickly, don't I, Neji- _sensei_?"

She did. Her hands were absolute heaven around him.

"Not where it comes to math," he retorted.

Tenten smirked. "Not math," she agreed. "But some other things, yes."

He didn't refute her statement.

"I'm all yours, _sensei_ ," she whispered, while he was still standing and wondering how the hell to reply to her earlier words. Smoothly, she slid off the desk. "You're welcome in me anytime."

With a quick glance out of the classroom door, she stepped forward, pressed a quick kiss to his lips, and then she was gone, leaving him to deal with his whirling thoughts and desires.

* * *

 **x.**

It was with some trepidation that Neji approached the art classroom the following day. He had not been able to stop imagining the various things he could possibly do with Tenten when he next saw her in private - his thoughts were lascivious, bordering on kinky, and he hoped fervently that she would not tempt him at all during the session.

Hinata was in the classroom with Tenten, much to Neji's surprise.

He paused by the door and stared at his cousin and student as they looked up at his appearance.

"Neji- _nii_!" Hinata exclaimed softly, smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?" he blurted, looking between her and Tenten.

Tenten hopped off from where she was sitting on a high stool in front of an easel (her fingers were tipped with charcoal again) and made her way over, grinning with glowing warmth. "Neji- _sensei_!"

"Well, we were waiting for you," Hinata explained with a smile. She glanced towards the easels that had been set up; he counted two of them.

"Are both of you drawing?" he deduced.

"Both of you will be drawing," Hinata clarified, and Neji could have sworn that she had the same mischievous sparkle in her eyes that Tenten possessed so often.

Neji froze; his mind raced. "You're holding me to that drawing proposal from last week, aren't you?"

His cousin nodded. "A weekend away for every drawing you complete, up to a maximum of five."

His eyes narrowed. When they'd discussed the deal on the way back to their apartments, Hinata had not mentioned anything about multiple drawings - she was sneaky that way.

"Fine," he conceded. It really did not hurt him to draw. "What are we doing first?"

"You're surprisingly compliant today, Neji- _sensei_ ," Tenten observed with a wide grin. She took her place back on her high stool, swinging her legs back and forth.

He looked sourly at her. "I don't need you to rub it in."

She raised an eyebrow, smirked. "Oh, yes you do."

Neji ignored her innuendo and returned his stare to his cousin. "Hinata- _sensei_? What are we drawing first?"

"Still life," Hinata answered, setting a bowl of fruits on a tall table that was next to the window, so that light and shadow separated each fruit into two halves.

It had been a long while since he'd felt like a student, especially one that was severely out of his element. Neji took one of the pencils lying on the canvas support of his easel and began to sketch, awkwardly tracing curves that were still not proportionate despite how easily he drew graphs without a French curve.

Next to him, a meter away, Tenten drew quick, dark lines with stubs of charcoal.

In all honesty, Neji would much rather set his pencil down and watch her work, but he'd promised to draw for Hinata, and he badly wanted those weekends for himself.

So he glanced occasionally at Tenten's rapid progress, and did light sketches with a HB pencil, before switching to softer graphite - a 2B pencil - when he'd decided which lines he wanted in his picture.

It was easy to go overboard with shading. Neji made sure to cover the brightest parts of the fruits first, slowly progressing towards more shadowy areas. His apples and pears looked decent, if a little misshapen. Despite Hinata not requiring his drawings to be of a certain quality, he had no wish to see Tenten snickering at him if his work turned out to be something even an elementary school pupil could accomplish.

Why had he not listened more closely when Hinata attempted to teach him to draw?

Neji winced when he was done with his drawing; he had still shaded in too many parts of the fruits. That mistake wasn't easy to correct with an eraser, however, because an eraser would smudge his pencil strokes and make unsightly blotches on his canvas.

"I'm finished with this," he told Hinata with a grimace. "I hope it lives up to your expectations."

Tenten, who had been silently watching him from her stool ever since she was done (she took half the time he did), gave him an appraising look. "You're not bad, Neji- _sensei_. Even if you think you suck at drawing."

"Tenten," Hinata chided, giving the girl a disapproving look. "Please be polite to Neji- _sensei_."

All Tenten did was smile at him, smug. Neji had no doubt that she was remembering the ruder, lewder things she'd requested of him in his apartment last week.

"It's fine," he said evenly, looking towards his probably-average drawing. In a mutter, he added, "Maybe she needs some discipline."

Tenten's glance was sharp, surprised, and her jaw dropped. While Hinata looked over his drawing, he slanted Tenten a challenging glance; raised his eyebrow. She huffed, blushed, and turned away.

Neji wondered if she enjoyed punishments in the bedroom.

That thought certainly cheered him up enough to soldier through the rest of the drawing session.

By the time they were done for the day, Neji had completed four drawings - the still life piece, a castle landscape, a portrait of Hinata, as well as an abstract creation that even he could not make head nor tail of. Tenten told him she liked the abstract piece best; he scoffed.

"The last drawing is something of your choice," Hinata said, as they began putting materials away. She made Neji sign his name on the drawings, then locked them up in a spare cabinet. "You aren't bad at all, Neji- _nii_."

"I told you," Tenten crowed, a wide grin splitting her face. "It runs in the genes, Neji- _sensei_!"

He glowered at her. "Easy for you to say."

"Someday, when Neji- _sensei_ becomes rich and famous, you can sell his drawings, Hinata- _sensei_ ," Tenten quipped, nudging Neji in the side.

Hinata raised her eyebrows.

Neji stepped away from Tenten and shrugged, pretending not to know where that familiarity came from.

"I'll hold on to those drawings for now," Hinata said eventually, putting the pencils away.

Tenten skipped off to the sink at the side of the classroom to wash her hands; Neji followed her trajectory with his eyes.

"Did something happen?" Hinata asked in an undertone when she came to stand close by him.

There was nothing he wanted to admit, so he shrugged.

"She seems to be more familiar with you somehow," Hinata observed. (Neji really did not like to be on the receiving end of a pale Hyuuga stare.) "Yet, you have been looking at her less."

"Really?" Inwardly, Neji wanted to berate himself - Hinata had caught the change in his physical interest in Tenten. But Hinata knew him better than anyone else, so it didn't necessarily mean that he had been painfully obvious where it came to his student.

"You're calmer around her this week," Hinata added. "Granted, I haven't seen you with her except when she accompanied us home for dinner."

He shrugged again - that seemed to be the best way to absolve himself of any wrongdoing. "I'm not sure why that is so."

Hinata gave him a peaceful look, one that said, _If you say so_ , and smiled. "I'm around if you find yourself in need of advice."

Neji dipped his chin. "I'm aware of that. Thank you."

As was the case the previous week, Neji lagged behind while Tenten walked alongside Hinata, chatting about art school and various job prospects.

 _She was young,_ he thought. Her life was full of limitless possibilities, and she was without a clan to restrict where her wings could take her. If it weren't for the favoritism towards males in the Japanese workforce, her artistic skill alone would be sufficient to open many doors.

It was to his surprise that Neji realized he envied Tenten, how carefree she was, and how happy she seemed to be all the time. It was in the spring of her step, in the curve of her lips that always seemed so ready to spread in a smile.

He liked that she smiled for him. It almost made him feel a little more important, like he wasn't just another servant in the Hyuuga family.

He had nothing to offer anyone in return, though. He had little inheritance of any sort, and his apartment belonged to the clan, even if he did not have to pay to occupy it. All he could do, really, was to save up, and hope that he would be of value to someone in return, someday. Someone who didn't see him as just another tool.

Someone like Tenten, perhaps?

The journey home passed quickly while his thoughts churned. Neji blinked when they arrived at the doors demarcating Hinata's apartment from his own, reaching into his pocket for his keys.

"Going to hole yourself up for a bit, Neji- _sensei_?" Tenten asked with a smile. She was still standing beside Hinata - there was no need to rush, after all, when Neji was positive that she would visit him after dinner.

The thought made his breath quicken, and he gave a noncommittal shrug. "I have some things to see to first," he hedged, "I'll see you and Hinata- _sensei_ later, Tenten."

She grinned at him, and followed Hinata into the apartment next to his.

* * *

 _A/N: I think you can tell, by now, that this fic focuses a lot more on character interaction than any sort of major exciting event... :P Glad you guys are hanging on to it._

 _Thank you, as always, for taking the time to leave a review!_


	5. Let Me Love You

_I'm still in limbo and reading KuroFai instead of really writing anything. The fics in the KuroFai fandom are something else entirely - rich with world-building and plot and character development like whoa. I'm still trying to come to terms with that._

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me. **As before, this fic is rated for mature audiences only - read at your own discretion.**_

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 5: Let Me Love You**

 **xi.**

Dinner was a quiet affair, though Tenten's presence made it a little more lively. Neji was surprised to discover that Hinata had made some sort of dumplings for the meal, as well as stir-fried chicken and vegetables, and the usual steamed rice.

"Chinese food?" he asked, looking up from the bowls on the dinner table.

Tenten flashed a smile at him, her teeth straight and beautiful. "I taught Hinata- _sensei_ how to make some of the simpler dishes," she explained, "I gave her some recipes earlier this week so she could get ingredients."

When Neji looked towards his cousin for more information, Hinata smiled. "I thought we could change things up once in a while," she said mildly, "We do always have traditional meals for dinner."

"Someone needs to make Neji- _sensei_ experience something new once in a while, huh?" Tenten added, brown eyes lingering on Neji for an extended moment. "He's so serious all the time."

"He is," Hinata agreed.

Neji stared at his cousin, horrified that she would take Tenten's side. "Really, Hinata?"

This time, both Tenten and Hinata smiled impishly at him, and Neji had cause for concern. What had they talked about while he had been trailing behind them on the way home? Tenten had not attempted to draw him into conversation at all during the trip home, he now realized.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously. "Tenten?"

"Nothing," she said, almost too casually. " _Itadakimasu_!"

He echoed the customary phrase, looking between Tenten and Hinata for any clues they might be dropping. But there were none, and he was forced to echo Tenten's words when Hinata did, reluctantly starting on his food.

Hinata merely smiled and bit into a dumpling. "This is really delicious!"

"I'm glad you like it," Tenten said with a smile. She looked towards Neji next, and he was compelled to give the little white pouches a try.

Past the silky wrapping was a savory mix of chicken, soy sauce and ginger, Neji discovered. It was tasty, and sat well on his tongue. "I would not mind having this again," he admitted. "I didn't know you could cook, Tenten."

She beamed at him. "Hinata- _sensei_ agreed that you need more excitement in your life."

Neji swung an offended look at his cousin; she merely lowered her gaze and scooped some stirfry into her bowl. Were she and Tenten both trying to get beneath his skin?

"I don't need more excitement," he protested.

(Tenten herself was plenty excitement, thank you very much.)

"What will you be drawing for that last picture, Neji- _nii_?" Hinata asked between mouthfuls of food and tea.

He frowned, distracted. "I haven't thought about it yet."

"Draw something you're interested in," Tenten told him with a smile. "Or a self-portrait."

His forehead creased further. "A self-portrait?" he echoed. Such an idea had never occurred to him, and he wasn't sure he was interested in looking at himself more than he had to. "I'm sure there are better subjects out there."

Tenten smiled and traced the collar of her blouse with a slender finger. Neji watched that movement, ensnared. She was sensual in a way that had his rapt attention, and he wondered if she knew the effect she had on him.

"What about a figure study?" Tenten said suddenly.

Hinata blinked; Neji remembered that the art class was scheduled to cover nudes later this year.

"It could be just feet, you know," Tenten amended before either he or Hinata could reply. "Or something simpler, like hands."

 _A figure study would work,_ Neji mused. And he knew exactly what - and who - he wanted in it.

"A simple drawing would be fine," he agreed. Maybe Tenten would agree to pose for two. He didn't think she'd mind.

Hinata seemed to relax, and Neji did not press the subject.

In his mind, he could already imagine how he wanted Tenten to look in those drawings, though it wasn't was if he'd be able to do her much justice. He could also imagine her posing very, very temptingly, but stopped himself from exploring those possibilities further.

"I don't suppose I could have one of those weekends off this week - tomorrow and Sunday," Neji said slowly. He made sure to keep his eyes on Hinata, though he felt Tenten looking curiously at them both.

His cousin smiled. "I have nothing planned this weekend - go ahead and take it off," she said. "I think it would be nice for you not to have to accompany me so often."

Neji pressed his lips together. He clearly remembered why he should keep close to her anyway - just in case her asthma attacks or any of her other illnesses came up suddenly. "I'll be around," he said vaguely. "But don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

"I will call if I need you," Hinata promised, smiling faintly. "But let's not talk about my poor health in front of Tenten - it's so depressing, isn't it?"

"I want to hear more, just so I'd know what to look out for if you ever have any trouble, Hinata- _sensei_ ," Tenten said, frowning. "Neji- _sensei_ has classes too - I might be able to help if he's busy."

Hinata appeared to hesitate. She wasn't fond of burdening others with her inconveniences, especially when they were mere acquaintances, or, in Tenten's case, a student.

"You should tell her," Neji spoke up, "Tenten is right - she may reach you quicker than I can, depending on circumstances."

Hinata looked between them both and sighed. "Well, all right."

What followed was a brief explanation of Hinata's more severe medical conditions, and a rough list of symptoms to look out for. Neji was close enough to her in the school that he could easily reach her side in the event of an emergency, though he was grateful to have someone keeping an eye out for Hinata other than himself.

"Enough about me," Hinata eventually said, embarrassed at having been at the center of attention for so long. "What are your plans for this weekend, Neji- _nii_?"

Neji shrugged. He had not made solid plans yet, though they almost certainly included Tenten and a whole lot of things that he would hesitate to mention in front of his cousin.

"I haven't decided yet," he said vaguely. "I may stay home and work on that last drawing."

He couldn't help glancing at Tenten then. She responded by looking away, her cheeks a rosy pink. Hinata wisely stayed silent.

* * *

 **xii.**

In the end, Neji excused himself after they'd finished dinner, on the pretext that he had to return home to get some documents sorted. (Hinata had offered him some materials to bring along, and he'd agreed to take them.) He wasn't sure how much more his cousin had gleaned about his maybe-relationship with Tenten from dinner tonight, though he had likely given himself away at some point.

At least Tenten had kept her hands and feet to herself, and he had not been too distracted by her touch. It helped to be granted small mercies.

Once his apartment door had shut behind him, Neji allowed his shoulders to sag, and undid the first few buttons of his shirt for some breathing space. He thought about Tenten in the apartment next door, wondered if she would present herself at his door again tonight. Heaven knew his body was more than ready for her - he was hard just thinking about kissing her and stripping her of clothes, just thinking about her soft, lithe form spread and squirming beneath his.

The weekend was tomorrow - would Tenten be interested in meeting him sometime? Would she let him draw her? Even if he did, he would have to leave her face out - there wasn't a point in having Hinata identify her from his drawings. He didn't need his cousin knowing about the intimacy he and Tenten already shared.

Anticipation grew thick in his veins when he heard muffled voices outside his door - Tenten had lingered at Hinata's for an additional fifteen minutes after he left - just enough of an interval that his cousin would not suspect anything going on after the dinner visit.

Neji stood by the door and watched through his peephole when Tenten waved goodbye to Hinata and bowed. Tenten made for the elevator lobby, ducked into a lift, and the doors shielded her from sight.

He pressed his forehead to his door and wondered if he'd been wrong about her interest in him. She'd left, hadn't she?

He reached down, giving in to the fullness between his legs. He thought about Tenten kneeling in front of him - that sight was one he wouldn't forget anytime soon, when she took him into her mouth-

Neji's eyes widened when someone stepped into the lift lobby minutes later; she slipped out of sight, then reappeared so suddenly from the side of his viewfinder that he was momentarily on guard, before he recognized her and unlocked his door.

Tenten stared at him in surprise, her hand lifted to knock. She entered his home when he stepped aside, eased out of her shoes as he locked the door quietly.

"I didn't think you'd be back," he said in a low tone, itching to touch her. She was just a foot away, crouching down to set her shoes neatly by his.

"After you looked at me like that?" she whispered back. "I called my father. I'm allowed to spend the night."

Neji lifted an eyebrow. "He doesn't know who you're spending the night with, does he."

She grinned slyly at him and stood, raising her hands to his neck to straighten his collar. Cool fingers slipped beneath fabric; she traced her fingers past his clavicles. Neji took a deep breath, found her hips with his fingers, backed her into the wall. It was difficult not to, when she'd initiated this, when all he could think about was her.

Tenten gasped, but did not protest. She trailed her fingers down his forearms, reached further south, found him easily. Pleasure hummed in his flesh; Neji ducked his head, sniffed the skin at the crook of her shoulder. She smelled like dried sweat, like woman, and he wanted her without a shred of clothing.

"That drawing," she whispered. He glanced at her lips - moist, velvety skin that he wanted to taste.

Neji curved an arm around her waist, pulling her against himself. Her clothed belly was tempting against his hard flesh. He eased fingers between her legs from behind - she was already soaking wet, and he groaned low in his throat, needing more of her.

"I want to draw you," he muttered in her ear. She arched against him when he pushed fingers past damp fabric, slid them against silky, moist heat. "But not tonight."

"What's happening tonight, then?" came her ragged murmur, laced with a soft moan when he lingered by her entrance, and teased her there. He slipped his other hand under her skirt, squeezed her bottom.

"What do you want to do tonight?" he asked in return, pushing two fingers into her.

Tenten gasped and moaned, stretching around him. "Ahh! _S-sensei_... Anything you want."

He caught her parted lips then, and kissed her hungrily, swallowing her moans when he pumped his fingers in and out of her, until she was trembling against him and clutching at his shirt, little mewling noises escaping from her throat.

Only then did he pull away, leaving her breathing unevenly, his fingers soaked with her moisture. "I believe I owe you some punishment," he whispered, lifting his fingers to smear her wetness over her lips. She flicked her tongue out, tasting herself. "Follow me."

He led her to his bedroom, closed the door so minimal sound would escape, and ordered her to strip. Tenten complied without protest; he watched her, eyes never leaving her skin. She had not been fully undressed before him the previous time - he took this chance to admire her beauty, then sat himself on the edge of his bed, and patted his lap. "Bend over my lap." She stared at him, red staining her cheeks. But she did not protest, padding over and resting her torso over his spread thighs. "Like this, Neji- _sensei_?"

The position lifted her bottom high in the air, and he brought his palm down onto her flesh, lightly at first. She gasped. "This is for being rude to me. Ten spanks - count them aloud."

"Your drawings really weren't that great," she protested, and Neji slapped her bottom again. "Ah!"

"Twenty spanks, Tenten. Count them, or I'll raise the number," he ordered. It was arousing the way she raised her hips for more, soon after recoiling, and Neji wanted badly to shove his fingers back into her, to revel in her slick heat. "Count them aloud, Tenten."

But he didn't; he wanted to find out how far Tenten could go with this, despite the way he strained against his pants, needing to be buried in her.

"Three!" Tenten finally began tallying, and she spread her legs, as if she thought it would tempt him into stopping. (It did, very much so.)

The strikes weren't enough to really hurt, but Neji noticed that she had begun moaning softly with each spank, and she had even angled herself so part of his fingers would fall on her nether lips instead. His fingers came off wet, and he realized that he was enjoying this just as much as she was, when he was on the eighteenth stroke and she turned to look at him, panting, "Neji- _sensei_ , you suck."

Offended, he struck her harder, and she gasped, trembling, parting her thighs wider yet. "Thirty spanks, Tenten."

She barely acknowledged that with a nod, and on impulse, he decided to try tapping her lightly on her nether lips instead, so his fingers brushed over swollen flesh.

Tenten arched and gasped, gripping his leg tight. " _S-sensei_!"

"Continue counting," he ordered, spanked her sex again. This time, she tensed completely on his lap, mouth parted wide in a silent scream as she shuddered hard, fingers digging into his calf.

He couldn't wait any longer, and pushed two fingers into her drenched center. Tenten gasped; her frame trembled.

Neji felt himself grow painfully hard. He enjoyed the control over Tenten, and she had loved the spanking, to the point where she'd come just like that. "On your knees now, Tenten."

She obliged; he didn't bother pulling his shirt off, instead working on his belt, and the zipper of his trousers.

The way she stared at his naked flesh was heady. It made him want to fuck her over and over, until they were both exhausted, and then some. He leaned closer to her, rubbed his wet tip across her cheeks, smearing moisture over her skin. Tenten smiled - her eyes slid shut, and she reached up to caress his sac.

A hiss escaped his lips; he cupped the back of her head and adjusted himself, pressing against the seam of her lips.

Tenten took him in readily, ravenously - his last coherent thought was that she looked very good sucking cock - and then he groaned, pulled her closer, thrust deeper into her mouth. Her tongue was silken heat around him, her mouth drew on him with delicious pressure. All he was aware of was sensation - slow, intoxicating buzzes of it, until it intensified, like ice sizzling on a hot plate, and he couldn't think, was only aware of the explosion that burst in his loins.

Logic and common sense returned to his mind in a slow trickle. Neji released his hold on Tenten, and she sat back on the floor, grinning at him while he regained his breath.

"We shouldn't have done that," he mumbled hoarsely.

"You said that the last time," she countered, licked her lips. "I don't hear you saying that while you're, ah, busy, Neji- _sensei_."

He flushed.

"I'm glad we don't have parent-teacher meetings at this education level," he muttered. "What am I supposed to tell your father? That you do very well?"

"That I do you very well." She winked; he stared sullenly at her.

"I can't face your father as your teacher knowing that we've been... intimate," Neji finished lamely.

Tenten got to her feet, patted off her bottom, and joined him on the bed, where he was grinding fingers (that smelled like her) into his temples. She sat close to him, so he could feel the warmth of her thigh against his and the soft press of her breasts around his arm.

"Tenten," he protested.

"Say it like it is," she told him. "We've been fucking."

He sent her his most annoyed glower. "I'd rather be polite, thank you."

"While you slap my butt and shove your cock in my mouth," she pointed out. "Neji- _sensei_ , are you in denial?"

Neji glanced away. Was he? Did it matter what kind of sex they were having? "Does it matter?"

"I want us to go on a date," Tenten said next, as if he never voiced his question.

He stared at her. "What?"

"You heard me," she replied lightly, lying back on his bed. "You know, we could go shopping, or spend some time at a cafe, or go fly a kite..."

Neji looked down at himself. Here he was, disgracefully half-dressed, his unmentionables hanging out of his clothes, and there Tenten - his student - was, suggesting that they spend some time together, doing romantic things.

He shouldn't. He was her teacher, an authoritative figure who wasn't supposed to get involved with the people he taught.

Did he want to, though?

He couldn't deny that he enjoyed being in her company, even outside the bedroom. He liked her cheerfulness, and he liked how carefree she was. But romance? Just having sex with her was bad enough. Tenten had no chance of any future with him, courtesy of his dealings with his clan.

Besides, there was always the chance that someone they knew could spot them together.

Neji bit the inside of his cheek. Did he want to spend time with her enough to risk all that?

"We could just hang out in your apartment, you know," Tenten said, breaking into his thoughts. "You do have that drawing to complete."

Thankful for a change in topic, he latched onto it. "I was... actually thinking of drawing two," he admitted. "But I'm not that great with drawing, or any sort of art."

Tenten raised her eyebrows, tipping her head to the side. "Oh? What were you thinking of drawing?"

He looked away, reluctant to meet her eyes. "You."

Her lips twitched. "You liked the figure study idea, huh?"

Neji brought his shoulders up in a noncommittal shrug. "I can't think of anything else that looks half as good-"

Tenten grinned.

"-But I don't want to do you injustice, either," he pointed out. "You're... beautiful."

At that, the smile on her face widened, and she leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "Have you not had many girlfriends, _sensei_ , or are you just shy?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm merely unwilling to dispense so many compliments that they lose their value. I shouldn't even be saying that to you."

"Why?" Tenten laid her head on his shoulder. "Are you scared?"

She was warm and comforting in her presence, and Neji wavered.

"I'm not someone you want to get involved with," he told her instead. "There's no future for us."

Tenten blinked, and pulled away to look him in the eye. She cupped his cheeks, forced him to look at her. "Close your eyes for a bit, _sensei_. We're just a man and a woman, here in this room."

"You're still addressing me as ' _sensei_ '," he protested, watching her. "I can't forget the difference in our positions like that."

She appeared to contemplate for a moment. "What if... I called you Neji?"

He glanced away. It was exceedingly intimate for her to do so, and he wasn't sure if he wanted that. "I... don't know."

"Neji," Tenten repeated, rolling his name on her tongue. "If we got married, and I called you Neji instead of Neji- _sensei_ , that would be more appropriate."

His forehead furrowed. "Married?"

She grinned sheepishly at him. "Well, you know, I figured..."

"We're not getting married," he told her sharply, looking for a way to get her off his lap. "Save your childish fantasies for someone else, Tenten."

She frowned at that. "They aren't childish fantasies, Neji- _sense_ \- Neji."

"You can't be married to me," he maintained stubbornly. "There are better people out there. You deserve better."

Tenten stuck her bottom lip out in a pout, propping her hands on her hips. "What if I don't want anyone else?"

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tenten. You're not even twenty yet. We're not getting married. That's all there is to it."

She leaned in and pressed a slow kiss to his lips. Her mouth was soft and wet, and Neji hesitated. He set his palms on her waist to ease her off, but somehow, she was pushing him back down onto the bed, and slipping her tongue into his mouth.

He was breathing unevenly when she pulled away.

"I love you," she told him, her lips hovering a hair's breadth above his. "You can't change that, Neji."

"I don't- I've never been loved," he blurted, staring into the deep brown puddles of her eyes.

She blinked at him in surprise. "Really? But surely there is someone who loves you. Like Hinata- _sensei_."

Neji blinked. "She's... different."

"What about your parents?" Tenten asked. "Before they... you know."

He glanced away. "I don't remember much about them."

Tenten's expression fell then. "Your uncle?"

He shook his head. "My uncle is concerned about other things."

"But surely you had girlfriends who cared about you," Tenten cried. She looked slightly distraught, and Neji couldn't fathom why.

He shrugged. "I've never let them get too close. I always ended things before they got too serious."

"Because of your family?" she asked.

Neji nodded.

"What about me, then?" Tenten pressed. She rested her forearms on either sides of his head, staring at him. "You haven't said no to fucking."

"Because that was all it was," he replied tightly. "I can't promise you anything, Tenten."

She sagged against him, and shifted so she could rest her head on his chest. "That won't change my mind, you know."

Tenten reached up and traced her fingertips over his lips, and it was to Neji's surprise when he felt wetness on his chest.

He lifted his head off the mattress to investigate, and froze when he saw glistening tears sliding from Tenten's eyes onto his shirt. "Why are you crying?"

She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. "I feel sorry for you."

His forehead crinkled. "You feel sorry for me?" he echoed. "Why?"

"Because you push everyone away," she explained, her voice rough at the edges. "You deserve to be loved, Neji- _sen_ \- Neji."

"I... don't need it," he said haltingly. What was it like to be loved? "I've come this far without."

She gave him a wan smile. "Sometime, you should come have dinner with me and Lee and our father. It's a different sort of warmth, but I want you to experience it."

Neji wasn't sure what to say to that, especially after what he'd told her about not meeting her adoptive parent. "I'll... think about it."

Tenten brightened, and raised her head, rubbing at her eyes again. "Let me love you."

"I..." He fumbled, curious and wary at the same time.

"Hush," she whispered, kissing him again.

This time, he decided to let her convince him otherwise.

* * *

 _A/N: I don't know how to justify all this. It just happened :P_

 _As usual, thank you for taking the time to leave a review!_


	6. Twice Heaven

_Been dabbling in more KuroFai fic.. surprised that you guys are still hanging on to this story ;) It'll actually probably end at the same time as Blackmail, and maybe even the demon/angel fic.. and after that I don't have much more new content except for a few short fic things :P_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 6: Twice Heaven**

 **xiii.**

Neji woke to warmth on his face and in his side. He blinked sleep out of his eyes and turned, squinting in the morning sunlight. All thought processes in his mind halted when he realized that Tenten was curled up next to him, fast asleep.

 _Fuck._

He drew a deep breath and thought back to the night before - he'd allowed her to stay over. She'd assumed that he'd let her share his bed, naturally, and hence he'd woken up like this.

They'd had sex again after he gave in to her - and then again in the shower. It almost seemed as if Tenten was insatiable, though Neji wasn't opposed to that, not when she roused him so easily. Vaguely, he wondered how much experience she'd had with sex - she wasn't remotely shy, and she loved touching him.

She still hadn't managed to convince him to give a romantic relationship between them a chance, and he wasn't sure he needed to be loved, anyway. The sex was nice, though. He couldn't argue with that.

It was also very nice waking up to a warm, soft body next to his. Tenten had wrapped her arm and leg around him, and her hair was a mess of curls around her head. It had been a long while since Neji experienced waking up in bed with a woman.

Even if said woman was a student of his.

He sighed, bringing his unobstructed arm up to rub the sleep from his eyes. He wasn't opposed to being close to Tenten, not as a man - she felt like heaven, even if there was no way he'd admit to how much he liked being inside her.

Just thinking about that sent blood pooling in his groin. Neji slanted a look at Tenten - she was still asleep, and he had no desire to wake her up, anyway.

He reached down for himself, remembering the way she had fondled him last night, how she'd wrapped her lips around him, sucked until he was on the verge of coming undone, and then pulled away, sliding completely off from him so he was forced to chase her down, and pin her beneath him.

It had felt insanely good to be finally inside her. Tenten loved it when he fucked her hard, and he liked watching the pleasure on her face, especially when she cried out and came around him.

Neji tensed when the building sensation in his loins grew almost unbearable - he pushed the covers down and tugged hard on himself, until his climax surged around him, and he grunted, covering his chest with splotches of sticky fluid.

His ragged breathing evened out; he relaxed into the mattress, closed his eyes.

"What happened to inviting me along for the ride?" Tenten whispered archly in his ear.

Neji snapped his eyes open and shifted to look at her, surprised.

"Morning, Neji- _sensei_ ," she said with a smile.

"I didn't think you were awake," he muttered, embarrassed. Neji released himself and flattened his hand on his sheets, feeling uncomfortably awkward as she looked over the wet streaks on his chest and, also, her arm.

"You were breathing hard," she explained, grinning sleepily. "I woke up to a feast for my eyes."

He glanced away, uncertain about how he should respond.

"Was last night still not enough?" Tenten teased, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek. "I thought you'd have waited for me."

"I didn't want to wake you up," he replied, grabbing a tissue from his bedside table. "Let me get myself cleaned up."

"Sure." She extricated herself from him. Neji was aware of her eyes on his back, even as he sat up, turned away and wiped himself off. It really wasn't something to be embarrassed about - men did this all the time. Tenten probably knew that.

It didn't sit well with him that she knew about his arousal, however. He was supposed to be less volatile than this.

"What were you thinking about?" came her question moments later. "When you were, you know, pleasuring yourself."

He slanted a look at her, unwilling to reply.

"Was it me?" Tenten asked next. When he still did not yield an answer, she shifted behind him, and wound her arms around his chest, so her breasts skimmed his back. "Neji."

Sometime over the course of last night, he'd realized that he didn't really mind her addressing him without an honorific. They were intimate enough that it made more sense for her to drop the '- _sensei_ ' suffix, and it didn't remind him of their positions outside the bedroom as much.

"I'll let you guess," he answered, slanting a tiny smile at her.

She responded with a bright grin.

"You were thinking about me," Tenten announced.

He didn't say anything to rectify her, and the quirk of her lips turned smug. She pressed a kiss to his shoulder.

"What were you thinking of doing today?" she asked instead of pushing the topic. "If you're concerned about not drawing nicely enough, I can draw a self-portrait for you."

Neji frowned. "But Hinata- _sensei_ would-"

"I'm only drawing for you, not Hinata- _sensei_ ," she interrupted. "I'll pose for you, and then I'll draw myself however you want."

Neji pondered her suggestion. Having Tenten draw herself would ensure that he ended up with a better drawing of her than if he attempted one himself.

"That is fine," he conceded. "I was thinking of drawing your feet."

She shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

They got out of bed slowly, took turns in the bathroom, and Neji dressed and left the bedroom first to get some breakfast prepared. He typically made his own breakfasts - it was nice to have some time to himself in the morning to meditate. Besides, it wasn't too difficult to cook rice with a rice cooker, and miso soup and fried eggs took little time and effort.

Tenten stepped into the kitchen wearing just her panties.

He turned to look at her, raising a brow while the eggs in his frying pan sizzled.

"I just realized that I don't have clothes for today," she said sheepishly. "Mind if I borrow your shirt?"

Neji shrugged. "Help yourself."

It wasn't as if he had anything incriminating in his closet, unlike how some guys had sheer underwear or kinky things of that sort (and he knew because of the friends he'd made in college, though he'd lost touch with them now).

By the time he'd dished rice and miso soup into individual bowls and piled fried eggs onto a common plate on the dining table, Tenten was dressed for the day. He stared at her.

"I guess you aren't planning to step out of the apartment at all," he said drily.

She was wearing one of his cotton T-shirts, and a pair of black boxers. He could see the crests of her breasts beneath his shirt - she wasn't wearing a bra.

Neji decided that he very much liked the sight of Tenten in his clothes.

"I guess we aren't going out," she agreed mildly, coming to stand by the dining table. "This looks good - I didn't think you could cook!"

He angled an offended stare at her. "I make my own breakfasts."

Tenten laughed. "Sorry! I mean, when we have dinner together, it's Hinata- _sensei_ who does the cooking."

Neji seated himself at the dining table and poured himself a cup of green tea. "It's a tradition of sorts. She makes dinner for me as thanks for looking out for her."

She smiled and took a seat across from him. "That's nice of her."

He shrugged, tucked into his breakfast. "What do you have for breakfast at home?"

"About the same," Tenten replied. "My father makes breakfast - he likes adding all kinds of greens in it though. Says it's youthful and things like that."

She pulled a face, and Neji smiled.

"This isn't the first time you've stayed over in a man's home, though," he said, sobering.

Tenten grinned sheepishly at him. "No, it isn't."

"Does your father allow you to do this?" he pressed, watching as she gulped half the bowl of miso soup down.

"I like this," she told him when she set the soup down, "You and Hinata- _sensei_ don't add too much salt to your food."

He raised an eyebrow. "Does your father?"

"He goes a little overboard," Tenten admitted. "I've told him that he'll have kidney failure before long if he does more of this."

"Does he listen?" Neji asked, curious.

"Sometimes," she said dryly. "So I volunteer to cook at other times."

Her exasperation with her foster family was obvious, though Neji saw that she cared for her adoptive father and brother despite how they must have driven her to her wits' end at times.

"Does your father know what you're up to when you don't return home?" he repeated.

Tenten sent him another guilty look. "He doesn't."

Neji frowned. "And you trust the men you stay over with?"

That idea was a little unsettling, so Neji waited for her answer, instead of dreaming up gory possibilities.

"I do!" she protested. "I make sure I trust them first."

"It still isn't safe," he said. "Not all men are who they appear to be."

At that, her lips curved. "Are you who you appear to be, then, Neji- _sen_ \- Neji?"

He blinked at her - it wasn't a question he'd been asked before. He was curious about how she saw him, however. "What do you think?"

"Well..." Tenten leaned back in her seat and chewed slowly, keeping her gaze anchored on him. "For the most part, you are who you appear to be."

He frowned. "But?"

"Just by knowing you as a student, I wouldn't think you were into things like spanking," she said lightly, still smiling. "You really like control."

It wasn't often that his sexual partners brought this up as mealtime conversation, and Neji wasn't sure what to think about it. "Is that abnormal?"

"It isn't abnormal," she replied, picking a fried egg off the plate between them with her chopsticks. "I mean, I've seen a variety - some people like control, some don't."

Neji raised an eyebrow. She was seventeen, and she sounded like she was way more experienced than he was.

"Should I be concerned that you know this much?" he asked.

Tenten shrugged, bit into her egg. "Are you jealous?"

"No." He didn't own her, nor was he in any committed relationship with her. "If I were your father, I'd be concerned that you were sleeping around with so many people."

"But you aren't my father," she countered cheekily. "And I'm not sleeping with anyone but you at the moment, Neji."

He sighed. "We really should stop this."

"But you won't," Tenten pointed out.

He clenched his jaw - she was very willing, very companionable, and he enjoyed having her around. Student or otherwise. "I guess not."

"Then I won't either." She smiled and took a bite of egg yolk; Neji watched as sticky yellow oozed down her lip.

Briefly, he thought about licking it from her mouth. He enjoyed the taste of egg, and to have egg on Tenten...

She giggled, chewing, and his attention snapped back to her eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You get distracted so easily," Tenten pointed out after she swallowed. Slowly, she opened her mouth and rolled the tip of her tongue out over her bottom lip. Neji watched in fascination, was vaguely aware of the twitch of her mouth.

She was getting to her feet and rounding the table, forcing him to set his chopsticks down when she straddled his lap.

"Neji," she purred. She rested her forearms on his shoulders, leaned in and kissed him, and he forgot what he was about to say.

Tenten tasted like egg and rice, with a hint of miso soup, and he subconsciously found her hips with his hands, slipping his fingers beneath the hem of her shirt.

A low gurgle of laughter rumbled from her throat; her tongue was in his mouth, and Tenten rocked her hips against his, anchoring his attention further down, to where he was growing increasingly aware of the heat between her legs.

Neji wasn't sure if he could help it - he certainly did not think to stop, when he pushed fingers up the leg of his boxers and touched her smooth inner thigh, following silky skin up to the inviting warmth of her center.

Tenten stood up then, pulled herself away from him, just as he'd arrived at damp, velvety skin behind her panties.

He stared up at her in a mix of disbelief and frustration. She grinned, reached down to stroke him through his clothes - he hissed at the heightened pleasure, courtesy of his engorged flesh - and climbed off his lap.

"We have things to do today," she told him with a mischievous smile. "Maybe later, if you're good."

"If I'm good?" he repeated, aghast. "I'm your _sensei_ -"

"I'm your equal here," she broke in, tapping his nose with a fingertip. "We fuck each other, so I have just as much say as you do, Neji."

He didn't miss the way she dropped the '-sensei' honorific, and frowned, uncertain if he wanted to hold that authority over her. Right now, his body was clamoring for her attention, and all he could think about was sex.

"Come back here," he ordered, lifting his chair and moving backwards with it, away from the table.

Tenten merely grinned at him, tiptoeing just out of his reach. "Does Neji want something?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't have to answer, do I?"

"You do if you want pussy," she said, her smile growing wider. Her gaze dropped to his hips, and Neji knew that she'd found his weakness. He wasn't in a frame of mind to be impervious to her body right now.

As if she'd read his mind, Tenten laughed and tugged his boxers off her hips, so it rustled onto the floor, baring long, shapely legs. He couldn't see her panties - his shirt was long enough to reach the tops of her thighs.

"We really shouldn't," he said, more to himself than her.

Tenten wriggled her body, and sauntered over to his couch, her hips swaying. "I'm all ready to pose if you're going to be drawing me."

He followed her trajectory with his eyes, staring at her hips, wishing she were walking towards him instead.

Somehow, through sheer force of will, Neji tore his gaze away from her, to the forgotten plates of breakfast. He sighed. She didn't seem to be hungry, and neither was he. He was hungry for something else.

With a deep inhale, he stood up and cleared the dishes, consolidating uneaten rice and egg so that they could be saved for later.

Tenten bounded up behind him when he brought the leftover food to the kitchen. He looked up from tearing a sheet of cling wrap to see her setting empty dishes into the sink.

She washed and rinsed the bowls and plates with enviable efficiency; he concentrated on getting the damnable corners of cling wrap to come undone, so he could have a straight, unmarred sheet of plastic over the leftovers.

"Need help with that?" she asked, laughing lightly when he looked up at her with a glower. "I didn't think you were so easily defeated by cling wrap, Neji- _sensei_."

His mood soured by a touch. "Do you have to rub it in?"

Tenten shrugged and grinned. "It helps when two people hold the four corners of cling wrap at the same time. Don't you agree?"

He'd never had someone around to help him with goddamn cling wrap, and Neji refused to admit that it was much easier transferring the film of plastic onto the bowl of leftovers when Tenten was holding the other end of the cling wrap straight.

"There," she said proudly, when the leftovers were finally in the fridge. "Lee and I do that together - it's so much easier that way."

He wasn't willing to think about the disadvantages of living alone, so he changed the topic. "You like having a sibling."

Tenten smiled and led him out of the kitchen. "Lee is a fun guy to be around, even if he gets a little too excitable at times. To be honest, I think it's almost like he's our father's biological son - they look so much alike, you know? Both of them have bowl-cut, shiny hair and bushy eyebrows, and I swear their teeth make this _ping_ ing noise when they smile."

Neji looked dubiously after her. He wasn't sure he was impressed by her adoptive family. "The drawings," he said instead. "All I need to see are your feet."

She laughed. "Surely you need to see the rest of me, Neji."

He shot her a dark stare. "Not right now."

Tenten chuckled again, and he grabbed the drawing supplies that he'd taken from Hinata the night before. His arousal had thankfully subsided during his troubles with the cling wrap, and he was glad for the clarity of mind that brought.

"Where do you think you should sit?" he asked, glancing around his living room for an appropriate location.

Tenten scanned his apartment, and studied the wall that connected the place with Hinata's living space.

"Over there," she said, gesturing towards his bedroom. He followed her in, and she sat herself on a chair, pulling a wooden stool up and propping her feet on it. "I figured that Hinata- _sensei_ wouldn't want to hear too much noise if we, ah, were to get busy."

She winked at him; he frowned.

The drawing of Tenten's feet was more difficult than he expected - there were many curves and wrinkles that he wasn't expecting, made more complex with the addition of highlights and shadows in the bright sunlight.

He thought about abandoning the effort for a simpler drawing many times, but did not - he could do this, couldn't he? In the end, his drawing of Tenten's feet turned out far below satisfactory - he didn't get the shapes of her toes quite right, and he didn't shade the shadows in as lightly as should have - it ended up a darker picture than he'd planned.

Neji set the thick sketching paper down with a disappointed exhale. Tenten glanced briefly at it.

"It's not so bad, you know," she told him, taking it into her hands. "Considering you haven't had any practice at all."

He shrugged - it never was nice being reminded of the things he tried and failed to do. Neji leaned back against the wall; he'd been sitting on the floor for a lower vantage point. From here, he could see the expanse of Tenten's bare legs - she was like a goddess, bestowing favors upon his peasant self. The imagery of that made him pause.

For moments, Neji wondered at how Tenten, some random student in his school, could possibly have such influence over him, him who belonged to an established, prestigious clan. But she was free, unlike him, who was chained and had his wings clipped and who had no freedom.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, prodding his knee with a toe.

Neji blinked, broken from his thoughts. "Nothing."

Tenten laughed, a light bubble that he found he didn't mind hearing more of. He looked over her stubby nose and almond-shaped eyes, and thought his heart beat a little faster, thought she very well could be the best thing that ever happened to him.

"Really." Tenten leaned forward, shifting to sit on the stool instead. "I don't believe you."

"Why are you always so happy?" he blurted, looking from her eyes to her mouth, and back. "What do you have to be happy about?"

She stared at him in surprise, her lips parting. "What's there to be sad about?"

Then again, she didn't have to deal with a demanding clan, did she?

He shrugged. "There are many things that can go wrong. People can make unreasonable demands that you can't refuse."

"This is about you watching over Hinata- _sensei_ , isn't it?" she asked in a lower tone, leaning forward. "You wish you had a different future from this."

Neji glanced away. "There's no use crying over spilt milk."

She heaved a sigh, and clambered onto his lap, her soft, velvety skin brushing against his. "I wish I could help you, you know. I really do."

"There's no way you can help," he told her, resisting the urge to bury his face in her neck. It had been nice curling up with her in bed last night. "I appreciate it, however."

"Surely there has to be some way," Tenten muttered obstinately. "What if you moved to somewhere where no one can find you?"

"I can't abandon Hinata," he answered. The option had occurred to him before, but he didn't think he could leave behind the only person who had really been there for him. "You understand that."

She appeared pensive for a bit, and eventually sighed, leaning her shoulder into his chest. "I guess you're right."

There was no solution to this problem, so Neji exhaled deeply and tipped his head against the wall. "We'll start on your drawing whenever you're ready."

Tenten glanced up at him then. "What pose do you want me to be in?"

He had the image in his mind. All he needed was to turn it into words - and that was the difficult part. "Your... back," he began haltingly. "I thought... of your back, and your legs..."

She brightened, stood up and pulled the stool to the middle of the room. Without another word, she was sitting down on it, back curved to the side, legs stretched out next to her like a mermaid's tail, but without the fins.

Neji blinked. "How did you know?"

Tenten looked back at him and smiled. "It's a classic pose."

He watched while she stood back up, stripped out of her clothes with ease and grabbed her phone from the bedside table.

"I'll sit and pose - take a picture of the pose from whichever angle you think is best," she told him, unlocking the phone. It was an older phone model, one that didn't have that great a screen resolution.

The wallpaper of her phone was a photo of him, he realized. Neji stared, and she blushed.

"Um, you happened to be sitting at your desk during an assignment you gave us," she said, embarrassed. "I thought... you looked beautiful as you were."

He returned his attention to the screen. It wasn't the best picture of him, though it wasn't the worst, either.

"I look decent," he managed to say. It wasn't as if he was especially fond of his appearance - this was just the way he was born. (He was partial to maintaining smooth hair, however.)

He realized, too, that he didn't have her phone number.

Tenten had seated herself on the stool again, in roughly the pose he had in mind, so he found her camera application, centered her in the screen, and pressed the button to capture the picture.

"Not bad," Tenten remarked, when he had handed the phone back to her. "I didn't expect you to lower the phone to my height."

Neji shrugged. "The drawing I had in mind was of you at eye-level."

She grinned. "You do have an artist's sensibilities, after all."

He brought his shoulders up again. "I merely happen to possess common sense."

Tenten studied the photo for longer. "Do you want the hair off my back?" she asked suddenly, waving towards her unkempt hair, "I just realized that you may have wanted my entire back in the picture."

He glanced at the image on her phone. It was only upon closer observation that he noticed the messy curls of her hair falling a few inches over her spine - he had been too preoccupied with making sure that he'd got her entire body within the image.

"It's fine," he told her. "This makes it special."

She beamed at him then, and stood up, stretching. His eyes fell to her breasts; she smiled wider.

"Do you want the drawing in charcoal or pencil?" Tenten turned; her gaze darted around the room. She found the other blank piece of sketching paper that he'd taken from Hinata the night before and padded over to the door, pausing to glance at him.

Neji hesitated. "Whichever you're more comfortable with."

"Charcoal it is," she said, and as an afterthought, "It's quicker than drawing with pencils."

Tenten left the room, and returned with newspapers and a little cardboard box. Neji watched as she proceeded to lay the newspapers out on his floor, before setting the sketching paper and her box on top. Her panties were pulled on next - and nothing else.

"I realized that I don't have your phone number," she continued, prying the cardboard box open. Within, Neji saw a few sticks of charcoal, as well as a couple of charcoal pencils, and a lump of kneadable eraser.

"So did I," he agreed drily.

At that, she turned and grinned. "That means we should exchange numbers, doesn't it?"

He shrugged. It would make things a lot easier if either of them wanted to meet up on impulse, though.

Tenten fell silent as she crossed her legs and leaned closer to the floor to work. Neji settled himself by the wall to watch - with her phone in one hand, Tenten sketched light lines onto the paper first, before dragging a thin stick of charcoal flat against the surface of the paper. This gave the background of the drawing a faint texture.

She grabbed a lump of charcoal next, to darken the shadows of her sketch, and Neji observed as she shaded in the tones of her body, and used the eraser to remove shades of black from her drawing.

Hinata was right - Tenten drew very well, even if she wasn't using paints. It was as if she had a natural sense of proportion and tones, and it translated easily to paper. She shaded and smudged, and he saw the outline of her figure slowly come to life in the way she added shadows and highlights to it.

"Hold the phone out for me," she said, handing it over. "Push any of the buttons when the screen starts to darken."

He obliged, and she used the photo of herself as a reference, making quick work of the drawing.

"I thought you said Hinata- _sensei_ hasn't started on figure studies," he commented. The ease with which she drew the lines amazed him - he wondered if even Hinata was this natural at drawing.

Tenten flashed a smile, her teeth small and white. "It doesn't mean I haven't drawn any."

"Who did you use as a model?" he asked next, surprised.

"Who do you think?" she parried.

"Yourself?" Neji guessed. She had been the one to suggest that she pose, and he take the picture. Even the posing came naturally to her, now that he thought more about it.

"You're very clever, Neji- _sensei_ ," Tenten smiled. She sent him a mirthful glance; amusement danced on her features.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That was merely a logical conclusion," he returned, "Anyone could've deduced it."

She laughed then. "Not everyone. My brother, Lee - he would be the first to suggest something absolutely ludicrous."

Neji wasn't sure he'd like to meet such a person - Lee sounded like an idiot, much like a blue-eyed blond he once knew in college. "I see."

"All the same, you should come visit me and Lee - I think our father would be thrilled to have a guest," Tenten said.

"I can't go alone - that would seem inappropriate," he protested.

"Bring Hinata- _sensei_ along, then." Tenten grinned. "That wouldn't seem too bad, would it?"

"Your father might think you broke many rules at school, for two teachers to visit for dinner," he retorted. The idea stewed in his mind, like a savory roast. Now that he thought about it, he was curious about what her room looked like.

Tenten waved dismissively. "He'll absorb any explanation you give him, as long as you mention the keywords - 'springtime' and 'youth'."

Neji's brow furrowed. What kind of family did Tenten get adopted by?

She sat up and brushed her hands off with a flourish. "I'm done!"

He looked over the drawing as she signed her name off at the corner - 'Tenten' in _kanji_. _Twice heaven._

If there were a heaven, would it even be half as pleasant as Tenten?

"What're you thinking about now?" she asked as she put her charcoal sticks back into the little cardboard box.

He shrugged again. "Heaven."

"Me?" she teased, lips spreading in a smile.

He had to smile at that. "No, what comes after death."

At that, Tenten cocked her head to the side. "What about heaven?"

"Do you think it exists?" Neji asked. His gaze drifted to the drawing. He wasn't sure if it was more beautiful than Tenten herself - but it was a very good rendering of his photograph. She had captured exactly what he had in mind, though she did so with far more finesse and in a much shorter time than he would have taken.

In the drawing, she had excluded her head, and began drawing where her shoulders began; her arms were tucked against her sides, following the curve of her body. Her back flared out into her hips, and her legs trailed off to her side, all in a sleek, graceful line.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I figured that, since I don't know, I may as well enjoy the time we do have in this existence."

"Do you believe in reincarnations, then?" he probed, relaxing against the wall.

Tenten snickered. "I think you were a rat in your previous life."

He stared at her. "What?"

She grinned then. "You must have atoned for some sin or other," Tenten explained, "Since you're so beautiful. "But you probably ate into many bags of grains - that is why you're stuck with your family now."

"I'm... not sure I believe that," he yielded eventually. He couldn't have been as lowly a creature as a rat, could he? "You think very highly of me."

Tenten missed the sarcasm in his tone. "Yes, I do think very highly of you."

Neji decided to let the comment slide, instead looking back towards her drawing. "We'd have to fix the charcoal onto the paper first, won't we?"

She nodded. "Hinata- _sensei_ probably has a can of fixative, but I don't know if you want to go over right now and knock on her door for that."

He stared sourly at her. "No, I do not."

Neji could already imagine the inquisitive tilt of Hinata's face, those pale eyes searching for explanations he was unwilling to provide.

So he sighed and folded his arms. "Is there another option?"

"Hairspray isn't the best option," came Tenten's reply. "But I don't know if you have that..."

She was looking at his hair, and he exhaled deeply once more. "I do have hairspray."

A giggle burst from her lips. "Do you style your hair, Neji?"

He glowered at her. "Not in the way you think I do."

Tenten broke into full-out laughter then. "I can imagine you looking like those ancient Chinese empresses on TV, you know? All the curtains of beads and shiny ornaments hanging from elaborate loops of hair..."

"Tenten," he protested, mildly offended. "I can assure you-"

"I know, I know, you don't do stuff like that," she giggled, doubled over, forearms curled over her belly. "But you're so pretty and I can just see you in a princely outfit..."

She was overcome by another fit of giggles, and Neji frowned, waiting until her mirth died down.

"I have hairspray for bad hair days, if you must know," he grudgingly informed her.

Tenten grinned at him, and he could see the lingering amusement in her eyes. "Well, let me wash my hands and shake the dust off the drawing, and then I'll fix it with your hairspray."

"Fine," he said.

She left the bedroom and was back a minute later, her fingers clean. Tenten crouched down in front of the drawing, considering it for a moment.

"I thought about it... You know, hairspray really isn't the way to go if you want this to be permanent," she mused. "It'll yellow the paper eventually."

Neji frowned. He didn't want to see Tenten's efforts go to waste like that. "I'll get some fixative either today or tomorrow. We'll leave the drawing alone in the meantime."

She smiled at that, and picked the thick paper up gingerly, giving it a few light taps so that dust from her charcoal pieces fell onto the newspaper. With that done, Tenten pulled a fresh sheet of newspaper from the pile she'd brought in earlier, took it out to the dining table, and set it down, before placing her drawing on top of it.

"That didn't take long," she commented, looking at the alarm clock on his bedside table. "What are you planning to do with the rest of your weekend?"

Neji watched as she folded up the used pieces of newspaper on his bedroom floor and left to put them away.

"What is your phone number?" Tenten queried when she returned, still as indecently-dressed as ever. He was surprised by the way she was comfortable in her own skin - as if she did this often.

"Do you walk around half-naked all the time?" he asked, watching as she returned to his bed and flopped down on her stomach, reaching for her phone.

"I don't get to!" she whined, to his surprise. "I don't live alone, you know."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "But you put more clothes on earlier."

 _His clothes,_ he didn't add.

She grinned. "It feels more comfortable to wear clothes sometimes."

He didn't really understand the allure of not wearing clothes, so he shrugged, and took his phone from his bedside table. "What's your number?"

Tenten recited her phone number to him, and he replied in kind. To be safe, he sent her a text message, to ensure that she had his number right.

 _This is Neji,_ he'd written.

"Oh, you're boring," Tenten said when her phone buzzed, and she opened his text.

He raised an eyebrow; she grinned and began typing a reply.

Moments later, his phone vibrated. He pushed a button to open the text message.

 _I'm wide open here if you can't think of anything else to do._

He flicked his eyes up at her - sure enough, she was sitting on his bed, legs apart, smiling at him. Neji couldn't help glancing down, at her covered sex. Her panties were sheer, and he could feel his thoughts drift in that direction.

"Surely there are other things we can do," he grumbled.

"What would you like to do, then?" Tenten asked lightly, still with a grin. "What do you usually do on weekends?"

Neji shrugged. he had not had much time to himself, when he didn't need to be close to Hinata. "I'm usually at home, or wherever Hinata is."

"And how often do you have sex?" she probed, looking him up and down.

He gulped - it didn't take a genius to know where this conversation was definitely headed.

"Twice a month, if that," he grudgingly admitted.

"And never the entire day," Tenten guessed.

She was right. It wasn't as if sex was that important on his list of things to do... but he had never had the freedom to allocate that much time to it, either.

She slid off the bed and padded over to him, her small hands skimming over his pants.

It didn't take long for her to rouse him, for his thoughts to sink into the gutter.

Neji found that he didn't mind, not at all.

* * *

 _A/N: I'm not sure if this was what you were expecting, but okay ;)_

 _Thank you, as always, for taking the time to review! :)_


	7. Dinner in Green

_Time sure flies quick.. we're already on chapter 7 of this?! two more to go. :)_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 7: Dinner in Green**

 **xiv.**

Three weeks later, Neji was seated at the dining table in Tenten's too-green apartment. Hinata was next to him, unfazed by the sheer amount of verdant grass tones that assaulted his eyes.

"Tenten has told me a lot about you, Neji- _sensei_ , Hinata- _sensei_!" Gai, Tenten's adoptive father, shouted.

Neji cringed inwardly, his eardrums still vibrating long after Gai had ended his sentence.

He hadn't quite believed Tenten when she told him that her entire house was green. Who would create such an atrocity, after all?

Then Friday arrived, and Neji was faced with the largest surface area of painted green that he'd ever seen in his entire life. The walls, the ceiling, the floors, the tables, and even the chairs and doors and windowsills were painted green. It wasn't a soothing forest green - the green in the apartment had a horrid tint of yellow, that was almost offensive to his delicate eyes.

Right now, he was certain that he would live fine without seeing another ugly patch of green ever again.

He was also certain that everything would look magenta when he stepped out of this place. How on Earth did Tenten live through this every single day?

The girl in question was currently busy in the kitchen, and Neji sat awkwardly at the small dining table, across from Tenten's father and brother, with Hinata next to him. True to Tenten's descriptions, Lee and Gai looked almost identical, with their gleaming hair and teeth and bushy black eyebrows. It was as if Lee was an illegitimate child of Gai's, instead of just some random adopted stranger.

"I'm so glad the two of you could visit our humble home," Gai was saying. "Has our little flower been giving you any problems?"

Neji raised an eyebrow. _Little flower?_

"For the last time, Gai- _tousan_ , I am not a flower!" Tenten shouted from the kitchen. Loud metallic clangs accompanied her protest - probably not a coincidence.

The corners of Neji's mouth quirked. Trust Tenten to refuse words of endearment like that.

"Gai- _san_ , have you always addressed Tenten as a flower?" Neji asked in curiosity, looking back at the man across the table.

"Yes, I have!" Gai beamed. "Don't you agree that she is the most youthful blossom in all of Nihon?"

Neji marveled at how the older man's pride was such that he thought Tenten to be the most charming in the entire country, considering that she wasn't his own flesh and blood to begin with. But then again, she was becoming more important to him, and he wasn't even part of Tenten's family.

He caught himself at that thought and shoved it to the back of his mind - he wasn't, in any way, in love with Tenten.

"Yes, she is," Neji agreed mildly, to Gai's delight and Hinata's amused glance. Lee cheered. Neji lifted a shoulder, to give Hinata the impression that he was merely trying to make peace with their hosts.

"Again, I'm so glad that both of you can join us for dinner," Gai rambled, waving expressively, "I hope Tenten hasn't been causing trouble at school!"

"No, she hasn't," Hinata rushed to say, "Tenten is doing very well in her art classes!"

"Ah, yes, you teach her art," Gai recalled.

Next to him, Lee nodded enthusiastically. He wasn't in Neji's classes - he was a year younger, and chose to spend his time with the martial arts club instead of improving on his grades. "And Neji- _sensei_ teaches math," Lee added. To Neji, he said, "Tenten talks a lot about you."

Neji froze; there was dead silence coming from the direction of the kitchen.

"Really?" he asked, glancing between Lee, Gai and Hinata. How much did each of them know?

"Well, she told me that you're very patient with teaching her," Lee said, surveying Neji with inky, observant eyes. "She also said that you aren't the prize catch that her friends think you are."

Neji stared at Lee. Hinata and Gai were looking between them, and the sheer awkwardness of the situation settled over the dining table.

A loud groan sounded from the kitchen. "Lee!" Tenten yelled, "Get over here!"

Lee excused himself and disappeared into the kitchen, only to yelp in pain, and emerge a moment later. "Um, well, sorry about that."

Gai frowned, turning to Lee. "What happened?"

Lee shot Neji an apologetic look. "Well, Tenten said I wasn't supposed to tell anyone else that."

A strangled sound emerged from the kitchen, and Neji winced. It had to be hard for Tenten, who was probably making dinner for all of them, for Lee to be spilling her secrets. The sound of loud chopping came next, possibly an attempt to drown out words. Was Tenten trying to distract herself?

This dinner was starting to seem like a very bad idea.

"I don't think Tenten really meant anything by that," Neji decided to explain. "Personally, I wouldn't think of a math teacher as a prize catch, either."

Gai's thick eyebrows crawled up on his forehead, and Lee goggled at Neji. Hinata tipped her head to a side.

Neji shrugged. "I don't suppose Tenten had any bad tidbits to share about me."

At that, Gai gave a forced laugh, and redirected the conversation. "Well, we all know how Tenten likes speaking her mind in every situation - it's such a youthful trait, isn't it..."

Neji felt his attention wandering back into the kitchen. Just what was Tenten cooking? Already, he could smell a variety of savory herbs, and his mouth was starting to water.

"Hinata- _sensei_ ," he began, "Would you mind telling Gai- _san_ what Tenten has done in art class? I would like to see how she's doing with the cooking."

He excused himself politely from the table, ignoring the three sets of eyes that followed him into the kitchen.

Tenten was muttering to herself; he couldn't help but smile as he watched her grab a handful of leafy vegetables and tossed them into her wok, so they sizzled and released a puff of steam that rose above her head.

It had been a while since she'd stayed over at his apartment - he had not requested another free weekend from Hinata, and he and Tenten had decided that they shouldn't be meeting for dinner too often. All they'd done between the day she left his apartment and now was exchange phone calls.

At first, she'd called twice a week. Two nights a week had turned into four, which had turned into seven nights a week, and many, many shared moments of stolen pleasure as they cradled their phones against their cheeks and whispered and gasped.

It was yet another secret, that teased from the edges of his memory as he watched her cook in front of him.

Neji moved his feet, coming to stand next to her by the stove.

She turned to look at his movement; her lips parted in surprise.

"I thought I'd supervise your cooking," he explained, a tiny smile twitching on his mouth.

Her features relaxed into a contented smile, and she stepped closer, leaning her shoulder into his arm.

"I was so frustrated," she muttered. "I love my family, but they make me so mad sometimes."

"So I figured," he told her dryly. "What're you cooking?"

"Some shrimp with vegetables, braised fish, and fried noodles." Tenten waved towards the three pans in front of her. The fish was hidden away beneath a metal lid, and only the vegetables and noodles were visible.

"Smells good," he said honestly. She turned a delighted smile on him.

"I wouldn't want to disappoint you, Neji- _sensei_ ," she returned, lacing her fingers through his.

"I doubt you'd disappoint me," he answered in a low tone. He sent her a sidelong gaze, watching the way she licked her lips subconsciously, and thought about kissing her.

Their relatives were just a room away, though, and he figured that they should probably wait until the coast was clear. He wanted to see her in her room, and press her down into her bed...

"What're you thinking about?" she whispered suddenly, a cheeky grin pulling at her lips.

Neji sent her a dark stare, eyelids hooded. "What do you think?"

Tenten merely grinned. "Where?"

"Your room," he answered beneath his breath.

"Mm, I've thought about it too," she admitted, and for a moment, her eyes focused on something faraway.

Her fingers tightened around his, and her gaze snapped back to the present.

Tenten was easing him to face her; she was tiptoeing and leaning in before he could protest-

-And her lips were soft and moist against his.

He groaned softly, tilted his face for better access into her mouth, and savored the way her tongue slid against his. Tenten whimpered; her other hand touched his waist lightly. Neji thought briefly about the people in the dining room, thought to pull away-

"Tenten, I just-" Lee's voice stopped abruptly, and they broke apart, breathing unevenly, turning to stare wide-eyed at Lee, who was standing in the doorway and gaping at them.

Tenten's lips moved but no sound emerged.

Neji winced. He was the adult here; he should be the first to react. "That wasn't-" he began, "That is-"

Tenten remembered herself and strode forward, pulling Lee further into the kitchen. Her cheeks were a deep red; she looked between Lee and Neji.

"Tenten, I didn't know-" Lee sputtered, glancing at Neji from the corner of his eye.

"It's a secret - please don't tell Gai- _tousan_ about this," she pleaded quietly, tightening her fingers around Lee's forearm.

He stared at her, mouth falling open. "But-"

"Yet. I'll tell him at my own time," Tenten hissed. "Please."

"But is Neji- _sensei_ -" Lee whispered back.

"He is honorable," Tenten told him firmly, giving Neji a look that said, _Follow my lead on this_.

Neji nodded. "I swear by it."

"Promise not to tell," Tenten threatened, staring hard at her adopted brother.

Lee looked between Neji and her again, shifting his weight to his other foot. "I promise," he swore, "My lips are sealed."

At length, after Lee stared at him for an agonizingly long time and Tenten turned back to tend to her food, Neji relaxed enough to return to the dining room, though not before grabbing Tenten's hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

That much, Lee understood. Tenten glanced at Neji in surprise and blushed, and he nodded at them both, before taking his leave of the kitchen.

The dining table was quieter than when he left it. Neji slid into his seat next to Hinata, returning the stares that Gai and his cousin sent him.

"It got quiet in the kitchen suddenly," Hinata explained, "So we wondered what happened."

Neji swore inwardly. He had forgotten about those outside the kitchen in the aftermath of Lee's interruption. "Tenten was... having me guess what food she was making," he lied, "I wasn't very good at it."

Hinata smiled, and Gai guffawed. Their amusement broke the tension at the table; Neji sank into the backrest of his seat in relief. All he really needed now was for Lee to not spill details about the situation to his father, and everything would be fine.

Over the past three weeks, he had thought more about Tenten's words. Would the clan allow him to marry anyone? Would Tenten be sucked into a life of servitude if she were to be bonded to him?

Would he marry her, if he could?

Neji blinked himself out of his thoughts when Lee returned to the dining table.

"Dinner will be ready in five minutes," Lee announced. "Tenten wants us all to appreciate her hard work."

"We always appreciate our flower!" Gai boomed.

Neji nodded in agreement. "I'm sure Tenten cooks very well."

"So, Neji- _sensei_ , you are Tenten's math teacher," Gai began next, fixing Neji with his jet-black eyes. "How is she doing at school?"

He tried not to wince. "Well... Math is not Tenten's strongest subject," he began. Both Gai and Lee nodded. "I have been giving her remedial lessons every Thursday."

(And orgasms every night, during their phone conversations.)

Lee sent him a questioning look (Neji didn't want to read too much into it) and Gai dipped his chin. "Have the additional lessons been helping?"

(Now that they'd had sex, the remedial lessons only served to remind him of the distance they needed to pretend was between them, even when it was just him and her in the otherwise-empty classroom.)

"With the lessons, she has been able to keep up with the class to some extent," Neji recounted guiltily, "But the exams are coming up, and she will need to work especially hard if she would like to attain decent grades."

Lee frowned, eyeing him suspiciously. "What do you do during the remedial classes? Can't you do more to help her?"

Neji breathed out slowly. He glanced between Lee and Gai, knowing that he would have to tread carefully, or risk having Lee expose the secret he shared with Tenten.

(It wasn't as if they spent the remedial lessons kissing, or anything like that.)

"You may not be aware of this, Gai- _san_ ," he explained, "Tenten is a few weeks behind her classmates, and I spend the remedial lessons going through the concepts that I have already taught. She takes longer to process the math formulae and the nuances of calculus that are in the syllabus."

Gai's bushy eyebrows knit together. "But the exams are in a few weeks, you said."

Neji gave an answering nod. He had discussed this with Tenten, and stayed as late as he could at school to help her. She drew the line at him explaining math equations during their nightly calls.

"Surely there is a way to increase her learning speed!" Gai continued, "What about remedial lessons twice a week?"

"I have... other commitments as well," Neji deflected, glancing at Hinata.

It wasn't as if he wasn't interested in seeing Tenten in private more than once a week, though he had some classes in the afternoons, weekly meetings with the staff, and lessons to plan for the next week. And wherever Hinata went, he had to be close behind, including when she visited the doctor for her routine check-ups every so often.

"Dinner is served!" Tenten called suddenly, walking into the dining room with a steaming plate in her hands. She set the braised fish down in the middle of the table, complete with a serving spoon, and returned to the kitchen for the other dishes.

"I'll help you!" Lee volunteered, scrambling out of his seat in his excitement.

"I'm concerned about Tenten, however," Gai said, drawing their attention back to the conversation. "I would not like to see her studies affected just because of one subject."

Neji frowned. He didn't want to see Tenten having to repeat her year, either, even if it meant that he'd likely have her in his classes again. And he was telling the truth - he hadn't another weekday to spare for remedial lessons. "I am aware of that, Gai- _san_."

There was something to be said about Gai's concern for his adoptive children - it was subtle, but Neji thought he understood what Tenten had meant about the warmth her family had, when they discussed love weeks ago. Gai was warm where his uncle was cool, and that had possibly been the sunshine that Tenten needed after her parents passed away.

Would he have turned out different, if he had grown up in Tenten's family?

Tenten made her way back with a large plate of shrimp and greens, and Lee brought up the rear with a full pot of rice.

"If it were possible - that is, if it doesn't inconvenience you too much, would it be fine if you were to give Tenten remedial lessons sometime over the weekend as well, Neji- _sensei_?" Gai asked, almost pleadingly.

Tenten flicked a quick look at Neji as she set the vegetables on the table. Neji glanced at Hinata in turn; he answered to her, after all.

Hinata nodded. "I think an hour or two would be reasonable," she yielded.

Neji caught the way she looked meaningfully at him, and glanced at Tenten. He was certain that Hinata didn't know what was really going on between him and his student, though, and merely nodded at Gai.

"I wouldn't want to make it a permanent arrangement, though additional lessons during the weekends before the exams may help Tenten," he conceded. "I will arrange these with her after I've consulted my schedule."

Gai beamed, and so did Tenten.

Tenten took her seat on the shorter end of the table, between Gai and Neji, and he tried not to look too much at her, even when she slid her bare foot over his ankle.

"I will forever be indebted to you, Neji- _sensei_!" Gai exclaimed smilingly. "Go on, Tenten, say your thanks!"

Neji looked towards Tenten - she was grinning wide, almost too gleefully for anyone who had just been assigned remedial classes on a weekend.

Lee noticed, and so did Hinata.

"Thank you, Neji- _sensei_ ," Tenten chirped. "I look forward to improving my grades!"

Neji nodded stiffly, glancing at Gai. Would the man be as agreeable to this if he knew that sex would almost certainly be involved at some point during these remedial lessons?

* * *

 **xv.**

As it was, Hinata agreed to free Neji from her schedule for three hours on Saturday. She had different activities planned for her days off, so the hours that Tenten could visit weren't fixed from weekend to weekend. Tenten didn't mind, though, and neither did Neji.

She showed up at his apartment door fifteen minutes early - which was just as well, because he had started to prepare for her visit an additional five minutes prior to that.

"Good morning, Neji," she whispered breathlessly when he swung the door open.

He swallowed, looked her over. She was dressed in casual clothes - a simple blouse and long socks - and he knew that she'd chosen a shorter skirt on purpose. "Good morning, Tenten."

She was on him even before the door had fully clicked shut, and Neji found himself wrapping his arms around her waist, meeting her fevered kisses at the same time she backed him into the wall.

He vaguely registered Tenten dropping her bag and kicking her shoes off. They had both been waiting for this; their phone conversations had revolved around this remedial lesson over the past few nights - not about what he would be teaching her, but about how he would be spreading her open and tasting her, and how she would be around him, hot and wet.

It had been agonizing enough sitting through the remedial lesson on Thursday, with the damnable desk between them. Tenten would look up at him every so often, her pink lips quirking in a mischievous smile.

At this moment, however, Neji slipped both his hands beneath her skirt, finding lace clinging to the swells of her bottom, and hauled her against himself, needing to feel her softness next to him.

He wasn't sure if he wanted her clothes on or off, or whether he wanted to taste her or be inside first; they'd talked about so much they could do, and now that she was in front of him, reaching into his clothes, he couldn't decide.

He dipped his fingers past her panties, pushed into her, hissing at the moisture that slicked his fingers.

"I've been so excited about our remedial lesson," she whispered in his ear, when he was suckling on her neck, dipping fingers into her welcoming heat. "Neji- _sensei_."

Her throaty suggestion dug beneath his skin. He curled his fingers in her, turned them both around, and pressed her to the wall. "You aren't excited about math, Tenten."

"Oh yes, I am," she moaned, her searching fingers wrapping themselves around him. He grunted, pushed her shirt up to caress her breasts. "I wanted to know - ah! - what we'd get if you added us together, Neji-"

She paused when he ground a finger into her swollen, sensitive flesh, trembling hard.

"Shouldn't we be differentiating?" he growled, hunger hot and heavy in his veins. He sunk another finger into her. Tenten arched against him and gasped, stroking him harder. "For the area under a... curve."

"What- What curve?" she moaned, her voice quavering when he rubbed his thumb against her swollen nub. Neji decided that he very much liked when she lost control over her voice, and pressed his fingers deeper into her, so she panted and gasped, leaning her cheek against his shoulder. "N-Neji-"

Liquid heat oozed around his fingers when she came, a high, wavering cry slipping from her lips, and Neji struggled to slow his breathing. Tenten fumbled with his clothing when she recovered, and he lifted her leg to open her to himself.

A groan rumbled from his throat when he finally sunk into her, pinning her between the wall and his body. He stopped thinking then, was only aware of the pleasure that thrummed in his flesh, of Tenten's silky heat. She writhed and clawed at his back, whimpering, and he thrust harder into her, deeper, until he felt the wave of his climax cresting over him.

He slipped out of her with a groan and spilled onto her front, pushing his sensitive flesh against her belly so he smeared white, dribbling ink on her bare skin.

Tenten was grinning at him by the time he gathered his wits.

"We were... differentiating something to obtain the area under a curve," she reminded him, grabbing a tissue from a box nearby to wipe herself off.

He stared at her. It took a while to remember what she was talking about. "And?"

A giggle burst from her lips. "Which curve are we talking about?"

"Is this from a conversation we never finished?" he asked in confusion.

Tenten smiled. "No. What would you get if you differentiated the area under the sexual response curve? You know, how it climbs and then plateaus until you reach orgasm."

Neji stared blankly at her for lack of an answer.

It didn't seem to faze her. "I figured that the area under the curve corresponds to how much you do during a sexual activity," she hypothesized, "And so, knowing what you need for an orgasm would help where that's concerned."

He remained staring. "But that varies between circumstances."

Tenten shrugged, nonplussed. "Well, if my father asks, I can say we did some differentiation, at least."

Neji narrowed his eyes at her. "We're having remedial lessons today, Tenten."

She laughed. "I know, I know. Relax, Neji."

"So you say, when you were suggesting otherwise," he grumbled.

"I was joking!" Tenten straightened her clothes. He watched as she fetched her bag from next to the door, bringing it over to his dining table. "Are you ready for a remedial lesson?"

"I am," he groused. A short trip into his study later, he was armed with lesson notes, just in case Tenten forgot to bring her copies along. "Have you been preparing for your exams?"

"I have!" she said in defense, when she sat herself down at the table, kicking her legs out in front of her. "And I'm on schedule with my revisions... except for math."

Neji sighed. "But you have been familiarizing yourself with what you do know."

Tenten nodded, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good," he told her.

"It would be so much easier if you just gave me a passing grade," she suggested with a wink.

He shot her a dirty stare. "I'm a professional, Tenten."

"I know," she sang, pushing her papers between them. "You're way too honorable."

Neji pressed his lips together. "I'm honorable? We've been sleeping together-"

"It's not like I'm sleeping with you in exchange for good grades," she pointed out. "When we fuck, Neji, that's between a man and a woman."

He blushed to hear her phrase that in such basal terms. "I'd prefer if you minded your manners."

She grinned at him. "And yet you've been whispering dirty things to me at night."

Neji looked sullenly at her, and tried focusing on the assignment she had placed between them. (He hadn't anything to refute her statement with, not when she'd been speaking the truth.) "The lesson, Tenten."

"Face it, you're a dirty old man," she giggled, propping her chin in her palm. "You like dirty things."

He glowered. "It isn't like you aren't dirty yourself."

"But I'm proud of it," Tenten pointed out. "And I'm not trying to pretend I'm not."

With no adequate response to that, Neji grit his teeth and stared at the question sheet. "We don't have all day - let's get started on this."

It was to his relief that she dropped the teasing and got serious - there was a very grown-up woman beneath her impish surface, one that he greatly appreciated.

* * *

 _A/N: LOL oh Tenten ;)_

 _As always, I'm glad there are those of you who are enjoying this series.. I'm not as fond of it myself - oh well, I guess? :P Thank you for taking the time to drop a review!_


	8. Discomfort

_Final chapter next week.. time is flying too quick, I know :o_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 8: Discomfort**

 **xvi.**

"Neji- _sensei_!"

The shout down the hallway had Neji wincing - his students knew that he had little tolerance for people who yelled at the top of their lungs, when talking at a normal volume would have sufficed.

It sounded familiar, though, and when he turned, he caught sight of the bowl-cut hair and bushy eyebrows of Tenten's brother, Lee. Neji stood and waited for the boy to catch up. Around them, the students who had looked about for the source of disturbance turned away, finding little of interest in Lee.

"What is it?" he inquired, studying the student.

Upon closer inspection, Neji noticed that Lee still had a few scabs left over from the car accident, though he hardly looked as if he'd needed intensive medical treatment just under two months ago.

Lee panted, and stared him straight in the eye. "It's about Tenten."

Neji raised an eyebrow, steered them into an empty classroom. "Speak. I don't have much time until my next class begins."

Like he'd expected, Lee wanted to talk about what he'd seen during dinner three days ago. A subject that Neji tried his hardest not to think about, even when he was home alone.

"What are your intentions towards Tenten?" Lee demanded, scrutinizing Neji with a shrewd eye.

Neji blinked. He didn't know, either, and to be asked this very question upfront... "I do not mean her any harm," he answered truthfully. "Perhaps you should ask your sister instead - this whole thing was her idea to begin with."

"But you're involved," Lee pointed out.

He dipped his chin.

"Tenten is a youthful flower to be protected," Lee rephrased, "I do not want you to be leading her on - you're a teacher!"

The chattering outside the classroom continued, as if no one had heard, and Neji was grateful that Lee had not chosen to holler his responses on this matter.

"She knows my circumstances very well," he said. "I have been persuading her to end this... relationship."

Lee's forehead crinkled. "Yet you kissed her."

Neji pressed his lips together. It was very awkward discussing his personal life with a student he hardly knew. "She kissed me."

"You didn't push her away." Lee folded his arms and stared at Neji. "Isn't that leading her on?"

A tendril of frustration wound into his gut, and Neji exhaled impatiently. He didn't like to be reminded of his mistakes, either. "Convince her out of this. I'd be grateful if someone other than me tried to talk sense into her - I've already attempted to, and it did not work."

"And what about you, _sensei_?" Lee insisted. "Tenten said you're honorable."

At that, Neji ignored the temptation to squirm. He was, in no way, honorable. He'd fucked his student on multiple occasions, and enjoyed it every single time. What lies had Tenten got him mired into?

"I will remain honorable towards her," Neji lied smoothly. "Maybe she'd come to her senses if you were the one to speak to her."

It took some effort, but Lee eventually believed him, and allowed him to leave. Neji heaved a sigh. He never asked for any of this to happen.

* * *

 **xvii.**

The next time Tenten dropped by on a weekend, it was late in the afternoon, and Hinata had invited her over to dinner after the lesson.

As was what was becoming their usual in Neji's apartment, they had begun with heated, carnal moments, this time tangled up on his bed, writhing and panting until the sheets were a damp mess.

"You know," Tenten began, in between gasps for breath as they recovered, "We really should go out on a date."

Neji lay beside her, controlling his breathing so he could focus his mind sooner. "No. Besides, your exams are coming."

She rolled onto her stomach and grinned down at him, her hair mussed. "But we're still having sex."

He narrowed his eyes. "Sex and dates aren't the same thing."

"All the same, they help me know you better." Tenten grasped a lock of his hair, brushing its ends across her face. "And I want to know everything about you."

"You aren't learning anything about me through this," Neji countered, sitting up. "One is too clouded by lust to do anything else during sex."

She grinned, crawled over to him, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind, dropping a light kiss on his cheek. "I learned that you like control very much."

Tenten was warm and felt good molded against his frame like that. Neji wasn't averse to physical contact, and he liked her touch, a lot. "So?" he replied. She was pressing kisses along his jaw, to where stubble was starting to appear. "You can't use that information for much gain."

"Oh, yes I can." She grinned and squirmed, and he found her sitting in his lap, naked and soft and warm. "You're forgetting that you wanted to fuck me so much that you've allowed me into your home on multiple occasions, now."

He stared warily at her. "And?"

"You haven't been this attracted to anyone else, have you?" Tenten smiled, tracing her fingers down his chest.

Neji blinked. He hadn't really put much thought into the women he'd slept with over the years. There had never been any chance of him living his own life, so he had not thought about his partners as anything more than shallow acquaintances he could leave at any time.

"I've looked at the few pictures you have around," she continued, kissing his jaw. "They're of your family, or your guy friends. There isn't even any of you with old girlfriends or anything of that sort."

Frowning, he focused on her dark eyes. "I've told you," he answered, "I have no intention of seeking a wife."

That didn't seem to faze her. Tenten touched the soft pad of her finger to his lips. "And this whole thing is wrong, but you haven't cast me aside yet."

Neji's forehead crinkled more deeply. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

She shrugged. "How would you feel if I were to disappear from your life suddenly?"

"Is that supposed to be a morbid question?" he asked, tone flat. The very idea of there being no Tenten didn't sound quite right to him.

"No," she chided. "I meant, what if we returned to being just student and teacher, and you never spoke to me outside class again?"

He stared at her, lost for words. The thought had never occurred to him.

He supposed he'd feel... lonely. Tenten was very companionable, and he liked getting lost in the haze of lust they whispered themselves into late at night.

"I don't know," he said finally.

Her shoulders drooped, and disappointment flashed in her eyes for a second. But Tenten was back to herself in moments. "I understand," she told him cheerfully. "That still doesn't mean we can't go on a date, though."

Neji frowned at her again, and glanced at the time. "We really should get started on your remedial lesson."

"Are you thinking about a date?" she smiled. "Because you just avoided my question, instead of saying no."

He shrugged. "I was merely preoccupied with doing what I promised I'd do."

Tenten slipped off from his lap and stood, stretching. "You're no fun, Neji."

"Have you ever expected me to be 'fun'?" he retorted dryly, getting to his feet. Their clothes were strewn around the room, and it didn't take much time to pull on a set of fresh clothing.

"You're fun in bed." She winked.

He didn't bother to reply.

The rest of the apartment was quiet. Neji headed out into the dining room, where he'd already placed the necessary notes for today's lesson on the dining table. Tenten's exams were three weeks away, and he still had a couple weeks of class material to go through with her, before he was comfortable with the idea of her stepping into the exam venue.

She followed him out of the bedroom soon after, dressed in his clothes once more. Neji had not mentioned it; he realized that he had grown to like the way his bed smelled of them after they'd had sex in it.

As had been the case the previous week, Tenten was especially attentive right after they slept together. He chalked it down to the hormones that came with orgasm - not necessarily a bad thing.

The idea that sex would become beneficial to her studies was something he hadn't anticipated, though he didn't comment on it, either.

(She would likely clamor for more - that much he was certain of.)

Two hours later, he was done explaining a week's worth of lessons to her. He watched in satisfaction when she managed to complete the accompanying practice questions on her own.

"You're getting better at this," he remarked, glad that he really wasn't too shabby as a teacher.

Tenten grinned up at him. "Well, I have a capable _sensei_."

"That isn't going to sway me, if there's an ulterior motive to your compliment," Neji replied, leaning back in his seat. "Complete the rest of that assignment and hand it in to me on Monday."

The corners of her lips pulled down in a pout. "But _sensei_!" Tenten whined, "That means I'd have to spend all of Sunday working on these!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And?"

She pouted further. "It means I can't relax."

Neji wasn't sure if he should smile. "I didn't have any time to relax when I was your age."

Tenten scrunched her face up and folded her arms. "Well, that's because you happened to have private tutoring."

They had shared more about themselves during the nightly phone calls, as well as on various occasions during the remedial lessons, and Neji had already begun to see Tenten as more of a friend than a student.

"Private tutoring or not, you'll have time to relax after your exams are over," he told her.

She made a face at him. "But I'll be working once my exams are over."

That caught his interest. Neji perked up, leaning in. "Do you have a job already?"

Tenten shrugged. "There's this company I work at during my school breaks..."

He noticed her hesitation. "But?"

"Before I met you, I used to sleep with this guy there," she admitted uncomfortably. "It'll... just be awkward seeing him again."

His eyes narrowed, and he felt himself tense before he realized how he was reacting. "Who is he?"

Tenten lifted her shoulders slightly. "He's a delivery driver... His name is Sasuke."

"Do you like him?" Neji probed. He hadn't really visualized Tenten with another man, though now that he'd been intimate with her for so long, he wasn't sure he liked the idea of sharing her with someone else.

She shook her head. "Not anymore."

The unease in his middle grew. "You liked him?"

Tenten must have heard something in his tone, because she frowned at him. "I've told you, Neji, I like you now."

"Then you may well return to liking him when you resume working there." The words were bitter on his tongue, and as much as he told himself that he was destined to be alone, it stung knowing that she would discard him after he was no longer of use.

(Yet a little voice in his mind asked, _But aren't you going to do the same to her when you no longer find her attractive?_ )

She stood with a clatter of her chair and glared at him. "I won't."

He returned the stare coolly. "How are you so sure?"

"Because I love you, damn it!"

In the next moment, Tenten had leaned over and grabbed him by the shoulders. Her lips mashed against his; the kiss was hard and angry, and she was still staring daggers at him when she pulled away.

"Don't you doubt that for a moment, Hyuuga Neji." Tenten scowled at him.

"Love is liable to fade," he replied obstinately. "Haven't you loved others before?"

"Not in this way!" she snapped. Her glower grew in intensity, if it were even possible. "If you've ever loved anyone before, you'd know!"

That was a low blow, and both of them knew it.

Neji remained still in his seat; Tenten propped her hands on her hips and looked away, her cheeks flushed.

The silence was taut, and he didn't know what to say. He glanced down at the lesson notes on the table, forgotten in light of their argument.

"I didn't ask to be loved," he said after a while.

Tenten slid a withering look at him. "Fine. Have it your way."

She finally moved to the other corner of her table, grabbing the lesson notes and question sheets with a loud rustle. The chair rumbled when she dragged it backwards, and he watched as she planted herself at the table and started on her assignment.

For long moments, he watched her, really noticing the way her brows were drawn together, and the thin line her lips were pressed into. There was a residual hint of red beneath her cheekbones, and her eyes were narrowed.

Tenten was very beautiful when angry, he realized.

"What are you staring at?" she muttered, still not looking at him.

Neji blinked. He hadn't noticed that she'd stopped writing. He looked away, towards his bedroom door instead. "Nothing."

The scratch of her pen on paper resumed. He sat at the table, uncertain about what he should do next. He usually meditated when he was alone and had to keep a ear out for Hinata, but Tenten was here, and it didn't feel right to meditate while she was angry.

"Why are you still here?" he eventually asked, when the silence grew a little too loud to be comfortable.

Tenten flicked a disgruntled look at him, before turning back to her assignment. "Hinata- _sensei_ invited me to dinner. I'll head on over if you want me to leave."

"That wasn't what I meant," he hurried to say. Why was he reluctant to see her go?

She didn't reply, so Neji stood from the table and walked into the kitchen to make himself some green tea. It didn't seem polite to not prepare a cup for Tenten when she was a guest, so he pulled another mug out for her.

She looked up in surprise when he set the full, steaming mug in front of her five minutes later. Neji watched as she followed the line of his arm up to his eyes, met his gaze for a brief moment, and jerked her head back down, to her assignment.

He retreated into his study.

Hinata noticed the tension between them half an hour later, when they knocked on her door shortly before dinnertime.

She drew Neji aside while Tenten was rummaging through her backpack for something.

"What happened?" Hinata whispered, glancing at the kitchen doorway as if expecting Tenten to barge in any moment.

Neji winced. He answered in a low tone, "We... had a disagreement."

His cousin raised a slender eyebrow in question; he did not take the bait.

"Dinner will be ready soon," Hinata said, when it became apparent that he wasn't about to offer an explanation.

Neji grabbed the newspapers from her coffee table when he made his way back out of the kitchen, spreading the sheets open so he didn't have to look at Tenten.

There was nothing of note in the papers - he'd already browsed his copy earlier in the morning. Still, reading some of the articles he hadn't touched on seemed to be a better way to occupy his attention than facing Tenten, and the grudge he was certain she was still nursing.

Did she enjoy sleeping with this Sasuke person more than she did with him?

Neji clenched his jaw. He wasn't jealous, had no cause to feel jealous, so he ignored the slow burn in his gut, that didn't seem to want to go away.

Tenten wandered into the kitchen at some point - he heard her talking to Hinata, her tone lightening the more they conversed, to the extent that she seemed as cheerful as she usually was.

That stung, too, to have Tenten recover so easily after their argument.

With Tenten distracted and out of the room, Neji set the newspapers down and meditated, clearing his mind of their recent interactions.

The dinner conversation was still frosty, however.

It was obvious that Hinata wanted to know more. Her pale eyes flickered between him and Tenten, and despite her carrying out a smooth conversation with Tenten about art supplies, Neji could feel the questions burning in Hinata's gaze.

"Hinata- _sensei_ , have you ever been in love?" Tenten asked suddenly, while they were halfway through dinner.

Neji tensed. He didn't look at either woman, instead lifting his bowl of miso soup to his mouth.

"Maybe," Hinata replied casually. "Why do you ask, Tenten?"

He saw Tenten shrug just beyond the rim of his bowl. "Well, I was thinking about it," she said between bites of food, "What if the person you're interested in doesn't want you to love him?"

Hinata looked at him then. Neji didn't meet her gaze, but that was as good an admission as any. His cheeks prickled with faint heat.

"Well, there are various circumstances," Hinata said slowly, appearing to give the matter some thought. "I think it would depend on your motivations and his, don't you?"

Tenten frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Why would you continue to nurse your feelings towards this person?" Hinata clarified. Tenten glanced briefly at him - met his eyes - and looked away. "Why would he not want to return those feelings? I think, by answering these questions, you'd have a better idea of what to do next."

Neji listened to the silence that rolled off Tenten in waves.

"I think he feels he doesn't deserve me," Tenten muttered.

This time, it was Hinata who glanced at him. Neji tightened his grip on his soup bowl, wishing he were somewhere else, far away from the dinner table.

"Oh?" Even though Hinata was no longer looking in his direction, Neji could feel his cousin's attention anchor on him. He didn't appreciate it.

"I told him how I feel about him," Tenten went on to say, grouchily, "He said he didn't ask to be loved."

Neji cringed by a fraction, and Hinata glanced at him again.

"I... see," Hinata answered slowly. And with more sympathy, "That must have really hurt."

He blinked. It hadn't occurred to him that his rebuttal had caused Tenten to feel bad - that had not been his intention.

But he really had not asked to be loved, either.

Feeling a little guilty now, Neji swallowed and set his bowl down, staring at his plate. Maybe he should apologize to Tenten, at least for hurting her feelings.

"I think the answer will come to you eventually," Hinata told Tenten.

Neji felt every bit of a lecture rearing its head at him. There would be no getting out of this situation, not today.

He sighed through his nose, and leaned back in his seat, glancing at Tenten. She looked a little miserable, and the guilt in his stomach intensified.

"I... I think I know what to do," she told Hinata with a tiny smile. "Thank you, _sensei_."

Hinata smiled and turned to Neji. "What do you think, Neji- _sensei_?"

It was obvious that she wanted him to answer Tenten's question as well. Neji stared at his cousin, feeling just a little bit betrayed. How could she do this to him?

"What do I think about...?" he hedged.

"About Tenten's situation, of course," Hinata replied easily, her smile as innocent as ever.

Neji could've hit his head on something very, very hard. He stared at Hinata - she didn't seem to want to focus on anything else, and he was forced to talk to Tenten. _Damn it._

"I... think it would depend on the individuals involved," he said slowly. Tenten's eyes flew to meet his; he stared briefly at her, then tore his gaze away, to look at the empty chair across from him. "Sometimes, there is more than meets the eye in a given situation."

He was nervous, he discovered.

Hinata turned a considering look on him, and he tightened his jaw. In spite of how well Hinata knew him, he wasn't willing to reveal just how much Tenten affected his thoughts, and he wasn't willing to come to terms with how he'd rejected her barely than an hour ago.

So Neji shrugged, glanced away. He would much rather be home alone than face a situation like this, in which he had limited power over the outcome. Tenten really should not have fallen in love with him.

"With all due respect, you may be better off showering your attention on someone else," he said quietly.

The silence that followed was very tense. No one moved. Tenten swallowed audibly, and Neji felt another twinge of guilt. But shouldn't he help release her bonds, so she could be happy with someone who had more freedom than he did?

This Sasuke person, maybe he could bring Tenten happiness. (Or maybe he couldn't, either.)

Tenten drew a shaky breath. She stood up from the table and collected her plate, bowl and mug - she was done eating, at least. "I should probably go," she said, "Thank you for the dinner, Hinata- _sensei_."

He remained staring at her empty seat when she brought her dishes to the kitchen and rinsed them. The sound of water cut off, and Tenten emerged from the kitchen in a hurry soon after, grabbing her bag.

"Thank you again for dinner, Hinata- _sensei_. Sorry for the abrupt departure," she said with a quick bow. "Neji-"

At her pause, he finally drew his gaze up to meet hers; she looked away.

"- _Sensei_ , thank you for the advice."

The door clicked shut behind her, and all he could do was stare at the spot where she'd been standing a moment ago. It didn't feel right letting her leave like that - she was supposed to be sleeping over in his apartment, and waking up in bed with him tomorrow. He wet his lips with his tongue.

"You knew what that was about," Hinata said softly next to him.

Neji leaned back into his seat with a sigh. "It's better this way."

"Really?" Hinata asked, picking at the remnants of her food. "I want to see you happy, Neji- _nii_."

There was a distinct sinking feeling in his gut. "I think she'd be better off without me."

At that, Hinata turned to look directly at him.

"You're more concerned about her well-being than your own," she observed in surprise. "I don't think I've seen that from you before."

He frowned at her. "At no point did I say that I'm not concerned about myself."

"Do you really want her to not love you?"

There it was, the one question that he had been afraid of, simply because he didn't have an answer to it.

Neji shifted in his seat. "She's seventeen. She can't possibly know what love is."

"And if she does anyway?" Hinata's pale stare bored through his lowered gaze and hastily-thought explanations.

Neji pushed his chair back, uncomfortable. "I should probably retire for the night."

Her voice was gentle, but firm. "Your answer, Neji- _nii_."

He met her eyes then. Breathed a heavy exhale. "You know as well as I do that I have no say on my future."

When there came no response, Neji finished the rest of his food and drained his teacup.

Hinata pursed her lips. "You've been intimate with her."

He stiffened. Glanced quickly at her. "You're suggesting that because..."

"Because she seemed very comfortable addressing you just by your name." Hinata was studying him, looking almost pensive. "And I saw that you'd added a new drawing to your apartment when I visited the other day."

In his mind, he swore at himself for not having relocated the framed picture to a spot away from Hinata's eyes. "What about it?"

"Tenten drew that, didn't she?" Hinata surveyed him calmly, and Neji knew that he couldn't lie to her. "I recognized her style."

"If she did?" He set his chopsticks down, downed a mouthful of green tea. Was there no end to the interrogation?

"I... find it unusual that she would present you with a figure study," his cousin explained. "And that you would display it in your home."

"It isn't appropriate for the workplace," he pointed out dryly.

A small smile tugged at her lips. "It isn't," she agreed. "Considering your situation, the drawing is... almost provocative."

He shrugged.

"The model?" Hinata pressed, if just lightly.

Neji had the grace to blush. He remembered only too well the day that sketch was created. Which damn teacher had a nude drawing of his student in his home?

"Neji- _nii_..." Hinata stared at him, and he was annoyed at himself for being unable to hide sensitive information like this from her. Her eyes widened suddenly. "This has been going on for some time now, hasn't it?"

Neji froze in the middle of rising from his seat. "That's a very severe accusation."

"Yet she has been very comfortable about touching you," Hinata continued. "That dinner at her place - what Lee saw in the kitchen..."

He sat back down with a heavy exhalation, rubbing his temples.

Was it some sort of karma that he had to suffer through Hinata's awkward questions alone?

"I don't think it was as severe as you think," he muttered.

Hinata frowned then. "What happened that evening?"

Neji gave himself some time to pull his thoughts together, breathing in, then out. "Not very much. I checked on how she was doing in the kitchen."

"And?" She pressed. When he didn't respond, her frown grew deeper. "Neji- _nii_ , I trust that you haven't been taking advantage of her-"

"Me, taking advantage of Tenten?" he protested, sputtering indignantly. "If anything, she was the one who started all of this."

She raised an eyebrow, and he knew she'd found an opening in his airtight defenses.

Neji tried not to swear. Hinata tended to shy away from attention most of the time, but she was very intelligent, not unlike himself. And she knew how to get what she wanted from him, like Tenten had discovered early on.

"All of this?" she asked softly. "What has been going on?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "It doesn't concern you."

"She is my student, Neji- _nii_ , I have every right to be concerned about her," Hinata pointed out.

Neji stared at his empty plate, wishing he had left Hinata's apartment half an hour ago. "Suffice it to say, everything she and I have done, she did it willingly."

Hinata pursed her lips, blushed. "She- she won't get pregnant, will she?"

Heat surged into his cheeks then, and he glanced away. "Do we really have to discuss this?"

"Your refusal to answer only makes this worse," she replied, still in that quiet tone of hers.

If he hadn't been brought up to sit still, Neji would have fidgeted. "She won't get pregnant."

He stood to go, gathering his dishes as well as hers. Hinata looked up at him and spoke as he stepped into the kitchen. "But you and her, you've..."

She left her words hanging, and Neji couldn't bring himself to answer. He gulped, busied himself with rinsing the dishes in the sink. Hinata really had no business finding out whether he and Tenten had had sex.

He felt her presence hovering by the doorway to the kitchen. Was Tenten home and having a better time than he was?

"I'll... put a stop to whatever it is going on," he grit, if just to get his cousin off his back. The rush of water stopped when he turned the tap off.

"But will you be happy with that?" she asked again.

Neji bit a curse down and whirled around, narrowing his eyes. "Is there a way I'll ever get a say in how I live my life?"

Hinata flinched, dropped her gaze. "I- I'd want to grant you as much freedom as I can, Neji- _nii_... you know how the clan will react if anything were to happen..."

That Hinata was the powerless heir to the clan got on his nerves. She couldn't do very much to release him from this way of life - all she could grant him were days off, if that. What he did next, where he lived, it all depended on the elders, and Neji was tired of being a pawn.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Hinata," he muttered, drying his hands and stepping out of the kitchen, brushing past his cousin.

He was angry, and frustrated, and afraid that he'd convinced Tenten to leave him for real. Did he really want this to end?

No.

Hinata was silent when he wrenched her front door open, trying miserably to quell the heavy whirl in his stomach, and failing.

He saw Tenten sitting in front of his door, her knees drawn up next to her, bag by her side.

She'd looked up when he made his way out of Hinata's apartment, and Neji couldn't stop the relief that swamped his gut. Tenten's nose was faintly red, as if she'd cried a little and then recovered.

Neji felt a little sorry about that, but mostly he was just relieved, and glad.

It took longer than it should for him to open his mouth and ask, "What are you doing here?"

* * *

 _A/N: Somehow the awkward conversation turned into drama. I have no idea how that happened. :P Poor Neji._

 _As always, thank you for taking the time to leave a review! :)_


	9. Love Me

_Final part... Not my favorite work, but oh well? :P_

 _Naruto and its characters do not belong to me._

* * *

 **Eyes Like Pale Thistle**

 **Chapter 9: Love Me**

 **xviii.**

Tenten watched him warily; she seemed to remember where she was then, and got to her feet in a hurry, brushing her skirt off.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that, Neji... Neji- _sensei_?" she muttered.

He made sure that Hinata's door was shut, and fished out the key to his own apartment, momentarily pushing Tenten's close proximity out of his mind while he unlocked his door. "Get in."

Tenten parted her lips, as if to object, but a look from him had her closing her mouth. She stepped into his living area and slipped her shoes off, shifting her weight between her feet while he locked the door and stepped out of his own footwear.

"I didn't think you were waiting," he said, glancing at her face. He found that he couldn't stare at her for too long - Tenten was beautiful and he wanted to kiss her.

He shouldn't, he shouldn't, he shouldn't.

Instead, Neji made his way to the kitchen, pulling a mug and a bottle of _junmai sake_ from a cabinet. He didn't have to look to know that Tenten was following close behind.

He kept his back to her, uncapped the bottle of _sake_ , and poured roughly three servings into the mug. Typically, he would heat it with a saucepan in a water bath, but he was running low on patience at the moment.

The mug went into the microwave, and he began the heating process, before returning to the same cabinet for a _sake_ cup.

"I'd like one too," Tenten said behind him.

He turned to stare at her. "You aren't of age yet."

She rolled her eyes. "I've been having sex since I was fifteen."

"This is not sex," he told her, vaguely wondering if she'd had liquor before.

"The supposedly legal age for sex is eighteen, and you didn't object to that," she pointed out, lifting her chin in that subtle gesture of stubbornness. "I'm your student, and you didn't object to us sleeping together, either."

Neji sighed. Drew a _sake_ cup out for her. "I will be the one dispensing the _sake_."

She shrugged.

The microwave beeped, and he turned towards it, thankful for something to focus on other than Tenten. Carefully, he withdrew the mug from it, swirling the liquid within a few times. Little bubbles slowly rose to the surface - the drink was just relatively warm.

He couldn't think of anywhere else in the apartment he'd rather be, so he poured _sake_ into the cups over the sink, slid one towards her, and rested his weight on the polished wood of the kitchen counter.

"I only get half a cup?" Tenten asked, peering into the little ceramic cup.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "I didn't want you getting drunk."

"I've had alcohol before - it takes more than this to make me drunk," she protested with a pout. "And besides, if we're having sex, I don't want to be so drunk that I don't remember it."

He narrowed his eyes. "Who said we're having sex?"

Tenten lifted her shoulders briefly. "That tends to happen whenever you and me are alone in your apartment, Neji, in case you haven't noticed."

He glanced at her; she'd dropped the - _sensei_ suffix again. It still didn't sit well with him that he didn't know where they stood with each other, so he took a large gulp of _sake_ , welcoming the way its bitterness burned down his throat. Unlike the other varieties of _sake_ , _junmai sake_ wasn't fragrant, wasn't delicate, and he liked it because it reminded him of himself.

She mimicked his actions and pulled a face. "I never liked _junmai sake_."

Neji slanted a glance at her, faintly amused. "You demanded to have some."

Tenten shrugged. "But it helps."

She drained the rest of her cup, though he noted that she didn't ask for more.

He watched as she leaned on the counter next to him. "I prefer the sweeter ones. _Ginjo-shu_ , or _honjozo-shu_."

Even now, she was still surprising him.

"Doesn't your father disallow you from drinking?" he asked.

Tenten laughed, a low, throaty rumble that was somehow very adult, and very sexy. It crept into his ears and lingered beneath his skin. "Lee is intolerant of alcohol - just a drop is enough to make him have some really bad reactions. As a result, we never have alcohol at home."

"Yet you drink," he mused, nursing his own cup of sake.

"You're not the only one with problems." She raised a brow at him in challenge; he stared back.

"Drinking doesn't solve anything," he returned.

"Yet here we are, drinking." Tenten laughed again (that same intoxicating sound). "Were you planning on getting drunk?"

"No." Neji supposed he should be more concerned about how she was in his home all over again, and how he still had no inclination to see her go. If he were honest with himself, he could get drunk on her easily - just the scent of her skin, the texture of her body beneath his... "Speaking of Lee, he cornered me in school earlier this week."

"He told me," she revealed. "He didn't like that you were trying to end what we have."

"Really?" This took Neji by surprise. Hadn't Lee been insistent on him not leading her on?

"Lee was convinced of your good intentions," Tenten explained, a wry smile flickering across her lips. "All that talk about being honorable."

He exhaled heavily, disgusted with himself. "I'm not honorable in the least. None of this is honorable."

"But it feels good, doesn't it?" At that, Tenten smiled, tipping her head up to face the ceiling. "After all's said and done, sex is sex. If you don't have a guilty conscience, it feels good."

"And you don't have a guilty conscience," he concluded.

"No. Do you?" She glanced at him, grinning.

"No." Neji looked away. "I thought you were angry with me."

She sighed. "I was."

"What changed?" He stared at her profile, studied the way the tip of her nose curved, and the way her lips were glistening.

"I can't stay angry with you, Neji." Tenten raised her eyes to meet his then, and he was caught in those deep brown depths. He wanted to touch her face, but held himself back.

"You were crying," he said, chagrined.

She shrugged. "I'm over it."

"Over me?" he suggested, almost-hopefully.

"Over my dead body." Tenten glanced towards the ceiling. "I'm over that argument we had."

"But you're giving up on me," he insisted, downing the rest of the _sake_ in his cup.

It felt stupid telling her to leave him, when he still very much wanted her around. But there wasn't any point to this relationship, aside from the companionship and sex.

"Maybe you should pick things up with that Sasuke person again," Neji said, more to himself. He stared at his empty _sake_ cup and poured himself another dose of liquor, draining half of it immediately after.

The alcohol didn't burn as much after the first time; it sat in his stomach, radiating heat.

Tenten was quiet for a while. "You really want me to return to Sasuke?"

She didn't use any honorific with her ex-lover's name, either. Neji didn't answer right away. Instead, he thought back to the conversation they'd had during dinner. "What did you decide on?"

"What do you mean?" She had her head cocked to the side when he turned to face her again, and her fingers were knotted in her shirt.

"At dinner," he reminded her, "You said you knew what to do."

"Oh, that." She glanced at the floor, where her bare toes pressed against cool tile. "I thought, maybe, I had a vague idea."

"Which is?" He was curious - was that a bad thing?

Tenten smiled then, but there was a touch of sadness to her eyes. "I could leave you, you know, if that makes you happy."

Neji didn't know if there was a reality in which she could string those words together, make them happen, and expect him to be happy. But he couldn't ask her to stay, either. So he changed the subject. "Why did you like Sasuke?"

She shrugged. "He was cute."

"Just that?" He looked disbelievingly at her. "Why else?"

Tenten lifted her shoulders again. "I guess you could say he was every girl's dream. You know, the dark prince and all that. In the end, though, he only cared about himself."

That meant that she wouldn't be happy with her ex, anyway. "But surely there's someone out there," he suggested, "Someone worthy of you."

Her lips curved in a bittersweet sort of way. "Will you be okay with knowing that this is the last time I'm seeing you here?"

His breath caught, and he couldn't look away from her.

He would be very lonely, he realized, not for the first time. But those late-night conversations had grown on him, and he liked hearing her talk about her dreams and the new art projects she was working on.

Tenten cared for him in a way he hadn't allowed many other people to, and he didn't know what he'd do without her cheerful conversation, and the way she turned mischievous smiles on him.

And despite the way he resented his family, he was too much of a coward to dare to rebel against their rules.

At what cost?

"Will you be fine," Tenten asked softly, "Knowing that I'm no longer yours?"

No, he wouldn't.

"No," he said, taking an uncertain step towards her. "Love me."

On hindsight, he acknowledged that he had been pleading. Right then, however, all he was concerned about was setting his _sake_ cup down and pulling her close.

She stepped forward the same time he did, relief in her eyes and her lips twitching into a tiny, true smile.

Tenten was warm and firm in his arms - not an illusion - and he pressed her into the kitchen counter, holding her to himself. Her hair smelled faintly of dried sweat; her waist was soft beneath her thin shirt.

They were kissing before he fully registered the fact, lips and teeth and quiet little whimpers when his tongue slid over hers. Her hands splayed across his back

"I don't want you to go," he admitted in her ear after they'd broken the kiss, so quietly that he could barely hear himself.

Had there ever been something he could call his own?

"Really?" she whispered back, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "Or are you going to change your mind later, Neji?"

He stilled in the middle of skimming his lips along her neck, pulled her tighter against himself. "No. I'm not changing my mind."

Tenten laughed then, low and throaty, and he was intoxicated.

"You should remember, you know," she murmured, "There's no way I'm giving up on you."

He kissed her again, slow and deep, and took his time undressing her.

Somehow, they made it all the way to his bed, and she was spread beneath him, naked and inviting and _his_.

He pleasured her slowly, with his fingers first, then his tongue. The smile never fully fell from Tenten's face, and it only grew wider the more he aroused her, until her thighs were parted and his lips were on her fuzzed, drenched ones.

She came around his fingers, and again and again, until she was almost exhausted, and he was painfully hard and damn near bursting.

When they had sex this time, he made sure to look her in the eye as he pressed into her silky heat. Tenten smiled at him, wrapped her legs around his hips, and pulled him closer yet.

Sensation throbbed in his flesh when he was sheathed fully in her, when he couldn't push any deeper in, and Tenten moaned, throwing her head back. She liked this best, when he filled her completely like they were pieces of a puzzle. He began thrusting in her, slowly at first. She gasped and moaned, trembling, and as he leaned forward and ground against her swollen flesh, she cried out, clenched around him.

He swallowed her moan in a kiss, continued to slide in her, until he could barely hold his climax back.

Tenten grinned when he withdrew and spilled onto her front, moaning softly.

Neji rolled onto his back, breathing unevenly. She grabbed a few sheets of tissue and gave him a couple; he wiped himself off with it.

"Changed your mind yet?" she teased, looking over as she cleaned the stickiness off her chest.

"No." He left his used tissue on the bedside table and turned on his side, draping his arm over her waist.

Tenten squealed. "You're smearing that all over my skin!"

He couldn't help but smirk. "I've heard that it's good for the skin - haven't you?"

She blushed this time, and his smirk widened. "You're such a pervert," she muttered, "Neji- _sensei_."

Neji narrowed his eyes. "I thought you were done addressing me as your _sensei_."

Her lips spread in a smile; she kissed him. "But it's not every day that I can call my _sensei_ a pervert."

"I'm not a pervert," he protested, pulling his arm away from her chest. It was easier to think now that his mind had cleared, and he hoped that he'd done the right thing by not rejecting her.

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow, challenging him. "No more sex for a week."

He frowned. "That isn't fair."

"Yes, it is." Tenten winked at him. "Admit that you're a pervert, and we can have sex all you want."

The crinkle on his forehead grew deeper. "You're pressing your advantages, Tenten."

She blinked innocently up at him. "What advantages?"

Neji stared sullenly at her. "You're impossible."

Tenten merely laughed. "And you just want sex."

"I didn't say that, either," he protested. She resumed wiping off the fluids he'd left on her; he watched while she turned and deposited the soiled tissues on the other bedside table. Not for the first time, he admired the way her waist curved out into her hips, and the way her bottom looked so very soft-

She lay back down and caught his stare. "You really are a pervert, Neji. You can't deny it."

He jerked his gaze away, rested his back against the mattress. "I'm not saying anything to incriminate myself."

There was a moment of silence, before Tenten turned and clambered onto him, straddling his hips. Her teeth flashed in a smile. "In any case, we're going out on a date."

"We are?" What if someone saw them? Was he ready for this?

She nodded emphatically. And with a wink, "Not right now, but we'll be getting to know each other better."

He glanced down at where their hips joined. "We know each other pretty well already."

Tenten flushed then, and smacked him lightly on the arm. "You are definitely a complete pervert, Neji- _sensei_."

He narrowed his eyes.

"But I love you anyway," she continued with a grin.

"Aren't you concerned that I can't say the same to you?" he asked. It would be lying to claim that he loved Tenten at this point, since he wasn't sure what exactly he felt towards her.

"I'll wait," she grinned, leaning in to snuggle with him.

Neji wished he had her confidence and her cheer. He supposed she had enough for them both, though.

The road ahead of them wouldn't be easy - their relationship didn't fall under the societal norms, and he still had to deal with his family (and hers) somehow. At some point, perhaps Tenten would grow up and fall out of love with him as she grew older.

For now, though, Neji was content to remain this way - he had heaven in his arms, after all.

 **end**

* * *

 _A/N: Yes, I'm aware that more could have happened - Gai could have found out, Hinata could've got sick and needed assistance, etc (I was actually setting up for that but veered off-course)... but the main driving force was the loveme!Neji, and that was the point I wanted to get to. :P So... I sincerely apologize if you were expecting more and it didn't happen. (Because I would totally be disappointed in a story like that)_

 _Currently, I'm 30k words into the TRC fandom, though I do still have my Team Gai/Metal Lee project on the side (currently at 2k words), so :P_

 _Thank you, as always, for taking the time to review!_


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